


Mourir - Miraculous Ladybug

by The_Gay_Feminist



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Chat Noir Reveal, F/M, Fluff, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marichat, Not Canon Compliant, One sided reveal, Reveal, This hurts me a little to write uhm, cutesey, idek what this is going to be about anymore huhhhhhhh, ladrien, love square, sad boi hour, smut (much later on) (not alot), somewhat canon compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2019-10-15 06:35:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 23,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17523674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Gay_Feminist/pseuds/The_Gay_Feminist
Summary: Upon finding out each others secret, Marinette and Adrien deal with keeping even more secrets between them, as well as hiding their growing attraction to one another. Once secrets are spilled and emotions are revealed, they grow even closer, their bond becoming stronger than it has ever been. The superhero duo we know and love faces the world together, battling side by side through thick and thin. However, even after their new, stronger, relationship, will they make it through La Grande Bataille? Read to find out.





	1. Vrai ou Oser

Ladybug swung gracefully through the streets, the cold dry air whipping against her face as she panted with the exertion of her early morning outing. She could hear the soft metallic clang of Chat Noir’s baton on pavement each time he used it to vault himself alongside her, the duo quietly making their morning rounds before heading off to wherever they went while civilian. Content that the streets were safe and free from akuma at the time, Ladybug, swung herself onto the sheet metal roof of a nearby building, her feet softly thudding as she gracefully landed. Chat followed shortly after, his landing equally controlled, but much louder as his baton slammed into the roof when he dismounted, the sound of metal on metal reverberating throughout the soft hubbub of the early risers in Paris. Several people nearby jumped at the loud noise, looking around nervously for the source before continuing on their way. Ladybug glared at the sheepish looking Chat, her indigo eyes boring holes into his back as he shrugged, reaching around to the back of his head with embarrassment as he made eye contact with the girl. She sighed, turning around herself to find one of the many clocks that was scattered around this vaguely suburban area of the city.  
“Sorry, milady,” the cat began, finding one before her, “I’ve gonna have to cat-ch you later,” he winked at her before extending his baton and beginning his way back over the rooftops of the city to whatever he needed to do that day.  
Ladybug found the tower shortly after he disappeared from view between two buildings, jumping into action when she realized it was 8:09, leaving her a little more than 20 minutes to get all the way across the city before school began at 8:30. She couldn’t be late again or else she would get a detention, and she couldn’t get a detention or else she would be grounded, and she couldn’t be grounded or else she wouldn’t be able to go to the Ball. Normally, there wouldn’t be such a thing, but Chloé Bourgeois, recently enamoured with American culture, had convinced her father to rent out the hotel conference room to the school so they could. Not to be dramatic or anything, but this ball was a once in a lifetime opportunity for her. The best part? It was a masquerade ball, meaning no one would know who was who. She dropped into the alleyway between her school and the building next to it, quickly de-transforming and rushing into her school, her watch telling her she had almost 5 minutes until she was late. She sighed with relief, slowing to a walk as she rounded the corner, and jumping when she bumped into someone else, also rushing and a little flushed.  
“I’m sorry, I was running a little late this morning and wasn’t watching where I was going, my bad,” Marinette apologise sincerely, her knee resting on the ground as she picked up her things before beginning to stack up their books as well. She picked up the stack and held her arms out to the other person, her heart stopping when she realized that it was none other than Adrien Agreste in front of her. She froze, the calm neutral smile stuck on her face as she began to heat up, her cheeks and ears beginning to feel warm.  
He smiled at her, a gentle blush glowing through his cheeks as he took his pile of books from her, “Thank you, Marinette,” he started as he tucked the books into his bag before looking back up at her, “although I really am at fault, I should have been watching where I was going.” He looked down at his hands, playing with a silver ring that reflected the sun onto the wall beside the pair.  
Marinette blinked, her smile having dropped from a wide apologetic smile to a closed lipped look of shock, “N-no, it’s really m-my fault,” she stuttered a little, though thankfully not as bad as she normally does, “Anyway, n-nice to see you Adrien, I um. Gotta go to physics. S-see you after uh, l-lunch.” She stepped around him, her shoulder brushing against his as she continued down the hall towards her classroom. She slid into her seat next to Alya, opening her backpack just as the bell rang signaling the start of the day.  
“Wow girl, you’re on time for once!” Alya teased, digging through her bag and pulling out a pencil and notebook before turning to look at Marinette, “and really rosy too, what happened?” she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.  
“Oh nothing, you weirdo,” Marinette gently shoved the other girl away laughing, “I just bumped into someone in the hallway, and I only stuttered a few times while talking to him despite the fact that I couldn’t breath,” Marinette’s voice dropped to a whisper at the latter part of her sentence, which did nothing because Alya immediately squealed loudly, causing three other people around them to stop their conversations and look at the two girls before resuming. Marinette glared at the other girl, turning away to rummage through her bag before the teacher began her lecture for the day.  
After what seemed like forever, but was really only a few hours and two classes, Marinette was finally released to go to lunch. She slung her bag over her shoulder, following the masses of students out into the courtyard where she once again met up with her friends, quietly entering the group in the middle of what seemed like a friendly debate.  
“Obviously Ladybug would be able to survive without Chat Noir, she’s the only one who can de-akumatize the butterflies,” Alya argued, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she got a little closer to Nino, both of them tinged pink in the face.  
“Do we all remember last time Ladybug tried to take on an akuma on her own?” Nino retorted, “She almost got the entire city of Paris destroyed!”  
“That wasn’t her fault, that aku-” Alya was cut off by Marinette.  
“I think that they’re both needed to save the city.” Marinette explained simply, “Ladybug is obviously a critical thinker, based on what we’ve seen of her and how she interacts with people, and she’s the only one who can take care of akumatized butterflies. However, Chat Noir keeps her safe while she comes up with a plan and he knows when to stop planning and just jump into action. He also frequently destroys the items the akumas are caught in, or haven’t you forgotten. They need each other, the balance they provide for each other is what allows them such success together, and not apart.” Marinette looked around at the blank faces of her friends, her face getting warm when she noticed Adrien staring intently at her, her gaze dropping to the floor when she realized his wasn’t going to leave.  
“She’s right,” Marinette’s head snapped up, “They need each other. Chat Noir couldn’t take care of the akuma without Ladybug, either.” Adrien nodded his head once, the movement concluding his short and simple support of her argument, while at the same time drawing all the eyes off of her and onto him.  
Alya sighed, her shoulders sagging a little, “I guess you two have a point,”  
Nino nodded his head, his gaze shifting often between the two, “Yeah,” he shook his head a little.  
“Now let’s get food, I’m starving,” Marinette chirped up, trying to bring the lively conversation back into the group. Echoes of agreement followed her as she turned to head outside and down the road to the restaurant they go to when no one can decide where to eat.  
“I didn’t know you were such a devoted fan of Ladybug and Chat Noir,” Adrien’s voice floated from somewhere not far behind her.  
She whipped her head around, shocked to find his bright green eyes only a few mere inches away from hers. “Oh, I-I’m not really uh. I j-just don’t like t-the arguing and uhm.” She paused, her lips parting as she inhaled gently, her eyes never straying from the emerald green ones right in front of her.  
“You seem to know an awful lot about them,” his voice lowered just a hint, his eyes narrowing in playful suspicion, “it’s almost like you know them,” he whispered.  
Marinette’s face drained of it warmth, her heart skipping a beat, “Pshhh what makes you t-think that they w-would talk to m-me? I’m j-just a boring ole’ c-civilian,” she took broke eye contact and took a step away, blinking and letting her eyes trail up a building to her right, until they landed on the French flag waving gently in the breeze at the top, “I j-just pay a l-lot of attention t-to Alya’s b-blog is all. Y-yeah, that’s it.” She uncomfortably took another step back, her hand coming up to the back of her neck as she awkwardly turned away to catch up with the rest of the group. Her steps were much tenser and longer and she fought the urge to panic.  
“What was that about?” Alya nudged Marinette’s side, causing the shorter girl to jump, her head snapping up to meet Alya’s interested gaze.  
“Oh nothing just-” she was cut off by a loud crashing from a few streets back, and when she turned around she was greeted by the sight of a huge cloud of dust.  
“Akuma!” shouted Nino, turning to sprint the other direction.  
Alya pulled out her phone and started live streaming the destruction, catching only for a split second Adrien’s foot as it disappeared into a dark alleyway. Marinette dashed farther down the road away from her friend, ducking behind a bench and some bushes to transform into Ladybug. She flung her yoyo up into the rooftops, flying forward over her friend and nearly slamming into Chat Noir as he too came flying up from the street level nearby.  
“You just couldn’t resist running into me for more than a few hours, milady?” Chat joked, balancing precariously on an extended baton as he made sure Ladybug didn’t crash down to the street below, seeing it was his sudden appearance that made her lose her focus on swinging.  
“Get off your high horse, Kitty,” she grinned, running her fingers under his chin pulling his face towards hers before swinging herself out of his grip and watching him flail as he quickly regained control over himself and his baton.  
The duo swung to the ground a few blocks down, finally getting a good look at the Akuma.  
“Ladybug and Chat noir! So nice of you to join us!” the duo screeched, “We welcome you to join our game.”  
“No thank you, I’d rather not,” replied Ladybug confidently.  
“We don’t take no for an answer, beetle. Truth, or Dare!”


	2. Des Questions

“We don’t take no for an answer, beetle. Truth, or Dare!”  
Chat turned his eyes off his lady, bringing them back to the scene around them. Civilians everywhere were either crying and screaming, or seemingly mindlessly walking calmly off somewhere away from the destruction. He scrunched up his nose, confusion as to what exactly the power these two had was until it his him. Truth or Dare, if they hit someone, they had to pick and were forced to do whatever it was the duo told them. Shortly after this realization, another took hold. If it hit one of them, they would have to pick truth, because the dare would absolutely be to give up their miraculouses.  
“Milady, do not let them hit you, and if they do, pick truth! We cannot let them dare us to do anything!” he called out to her, pulling his baton off of his back and extending it up until he was once again above the rooftops. He watched Ladybug diving and swinging around, watching the duo to find the akuma while also avoiding the shots being fired at her. He watched her elegantly swoop in, landing on the platform the duo was standing on, mere feet seperating her from them as she planted herself in the middle. She swung her yoyo behind her deflecting one’s attacks as she worked at the other, and began to fall forward, into the fray as she began to look like she needed his help. He landed by her side just in time, shielding her from a shot from the one behind her as they slipped their arm around the magic yoyo.  
“Thanks Kitty. Okay here’s what I’ve got, the akuma is the papers they have tucked in their pockets. They got this way because they played truth or dare at a party and people teased them for the dares they could come up with,” she filled Chat in as they stood between the two akumatized victims.  
“They had enough negative emotions to be akumatized because… teased? Doesn’t that seem a little excessive?” He quieried, swinging his baton out to catch one of them in the chest with the end, temporarily disabling them and pulling the paper out of the pocket. He opened the note, reading in quickly before tearing it in two, tapping on Ladybug’s shoulder so they would switch places. She captured the butterfly while he stood at her back, still fighting the one still standing.  
“Bye bye little butterfly,” he heard her whisper, a small smile creeping onto his face as she joined his side again.  
“You get outta here, I’ll keep her attention on me and you take the paper when she’s not paying attention, okay?” Chat quietly explained the plan in her ear, watching as she flung up into the rooftops and away from the fight. He stooped down, slicing her legs out from under her to give him a moment to get farther away, but as he turned he was hit by her. Obviously, he underestimated the amount of time it would take this one to regather her wits after a hit.  
“Truth or Dare?” It growled.  
Chat noticed Ladybug swinging back in from behind the akuma. “Truth,” he said, his eyes never breaking contact with the akuma’s as not to draw attention to his Lady coming in to land.  
“Who are you really?”  
Adrien’s heart skipped a beat, his mouth already opening to say the answer to the question. His Lady was well withing earshot, and he wouldn’t be freed from the curse until she used her healing light on the city. “A-” he clamped his hand over his mouth with all the remaining free will he had and held it there as long as he could. He could feel his muscles screaming to pull his hand off his mouth, “Adr-” he clamped his mouth shut. He was going to take as long as he could to say his name. “Adri-”  
“Fight it, mon chaton, you cannot tell her!” his Lady had been listening. She wanted to know his identity just as much as he wanted to know hers, but she knew that it would just put them both in danger and as much as she just wanted him to blurt it out, she would not let him tell her this way. She didn’t want to know.  
“Adri-” he began again, and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to stop him, so she hoped that no one else was near enough to hear and she screamed. She screamed as loud as she could, slamming the yoyo into the shoulder of the akuma, reaching into the pocket and tearing the note up before she even pulled it out. She ran out of breath, pausing her yell to inhale once more as she caught the butterfly, hearing only the last sound, “-greste”. She froze, the second butterfly joining it’s sister in the sky and the two victims falling to the ground. Adri and Greste. She had to have heard wrong. She put the yoyo back at her hip and turned to look at Chat.  
“I’m so sorry, milady, I seem to have lost control for a moment there.” he grunted as he pulled himself to his feet, brushing the dust off his suits before looking up into her eyes, “Did you happen to hear… anything?” he asked, and she knew full well he was wondering if she knew his civilian form.  
She brushed some dirt off of his cheek and let her hand rest upon his face, “Unless I will be able to identify you with the first syllable of your first name, then you’re clear, kitty.” Ladybug grinned, the healing light having just finished it’s job when her earrings began to flash, “Oh no, I’m about to transform, bug out,” she let her hand fall, the pressure sliding down to the side of his neck and then down his arm to his wrist before she shot away, disappearing as she slipped between two buildings to transform back. He followed shortly after, rushing to get back to school before the end of lunch.  
“Oh my gosh Marinette, where did you go?” Alya cried, rushing forward to envelope the smaller girl in her arms.  
“That thing dared me to do the thing that scared me most, so I ended up being forced to run around screaming ‘Adrien, Adrien where are you’ and it was utterly miserable.” She whispered in her ear, trying to conjure up a blush into her cheeks. Alya burst into laughter, her face turning bright red and tears running down her cheeks. Marinette grumbled and turned away from her friend, only to come face to face with Adrien. He was a little out of breath and very flushed, like he’d been running for a while. “Oh hi Adrien,” She smiled, her brain going back to the battle and trying to find something to ask him to prove him wrong “Where did you go during the battle?”  
Adrien stared at her blinking for a moment before seeming to register the question, “Oh uh sorry I’m just a little phased, they caught me and I chose truth thinking that was the safer option of the two, it most definitely was not,” he blinked once more.  
“What was the question?” Marinette asked, surprised in herself at her ability to speak like a normal person to him.  
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” he mumbled, looking down at his hands before looking back up at her, “You have a bit of dust on your face,” he commented, reaching up and brushing his thumb across Marinette’s cheek to get it off. She could feel her blood rushing to her face and her heart beginning to beat, and she knew that should she try to talk to him again she would be a blubbering idiot.  
Adrien sighed as he dropped his hand looking past Marinette at the rest of his friends. Alya was staring at Marinette, her jaw dropped and her eyes unblinking. Nino made steady eye contact with him, a sly grin across his face. He glanced back down at Mari, her eyes trained down at her hands and the tops of her ears turning visibly pinker in the moment he looked. He rested his hand on her shoulder and turned her around, gently forcing her to walk back closer to the group. Alya stepped forward and took Marinette’s hand, taking her with her away from the boys.  
“Mari, what. Just happened.” Alya squeaked, lifting her friends chin.  
“I have no idea, but I will never be able to talk like that to him again.” Marinette mumbled, raising her eyes to meet her friend’s, “You think school’s gonna be cancelled for the rest of the day due to the fact that the akuma attack was right near it?”  
“Absolutely let’s go to your place and talk about that.” Alya spun away from Marinette and led her towards the Dupain-Cheng bakery just across the street.  
Adrien headed back towards the school, Nino in tow behind him until they reached the doors and the teachers halted them, telling them to go home for the rest of the day.  
“Adrien, dude, uhm what was that?” Nino asked him, gesturing to the spot where the blond had been minutes earlier, practically caressing the cheek of Marinette.  
“She had dust on her face and I wiped it off? It was literally nothing,” he responded, his mind somewhere entirely different from the conversation he was having.  
“Yeah dude but did you see her face? She was redder than Ladybug’s suit!” Nino dropped his voice a little, trying to show him how serious he was being.  
“What are you trying to say, Nino,” Adrien grumbled. He stopped walking a turned towards Nino, crossing his hands across his chest.  
“She likes you, dude.” Nino shrugged, tossing his hands out to his side and leaving Adrien standing on the sidewalk by himself looking shell shocked. How had he not noticed that she liked him? Now that Nino pointed it out, it was painfully obvious in all his memories. He sighed, juggling so many things in his head at once. Did Mari actually like him or was he just interested now so it seemed like it? Did Ladybug know his identity? She said she hadn’t but there was no way she didn’t hear at least something. Why was Marinette basically interrogating him? He sighed kicking a rock down the street and deciding right then that he was going to go be Chat Noir for a few hours. He stepped into an alley, glancing around to make sure no one else was present, and in a flash of green light he flew to the roof tops.


	3. Rouge

Mari and Alya had been sitting on the floor of her bedroom talking about her ‘moment’ with Adrien for almost an hour before the conversation died down.  
“It’s only 2:15, Mari, what else are we going to talk about for the rest of the day?” Alya whined, slowly crawling across the room towards Marinette's sketchbook.  
“Do you want to see the sketches for your ball gown and start buying fabric with me?” Marinette suggested playfully, snatching the book away from her friend before flipping to the page her gown was sketched on, “Here’s what yours is going to look like, I’m not sure about color of fabric yet, but the bodice is going to be stiffer and the skirt is going to be tulle underneath to give it volume and a stiffer fabric on top, plus a small hoop so I don’t have to buy hundreds of yards of tulle,” Mari explained, gesturing to each part of the dress as she talked.  
“What’s your dress look like?” Alya interrupted, her eyebrow raised in suspicion.  
“I have mine all planned out, I just need to buy supplies. You’re coming with me to get supplies for yours and mine and then that’s all you’re going to see of mine until the day of the ball. Agree?” Mari stuck her hand out to shake, and Alya grudgingly took the deal. The two girls stood and rushed down stairs, Marinette tucking both Tikki and her sketch book into her bag as soon as her friend had left the room.  
They arrived at the fabric store with all of the cash both the girls had, and immediately walked to the texture swatches.  
“I’m thinking something either really dark or really light will look good on you, maybe a pastel pink? With rose trim? You’d look like Aurora!” Mari gasped, dragging the larger girl over to the pinks. She dragged her hand over everything, eventually deciding on a light pink matte fabric with embroidered florals for the bodice and a slightly more purple colored fabric that was so smooth it reflected light back at them when they looked at it for the full skirt. She also picked up about 5 yards of deep purple rose trim, and a ton of deep purple tulle for Alya. Once she had gathered all she needed for her friend’s dress she handed the bulging bag over to her and headed to the reds. She also picked up a ton of tulle, hers in a deep cherry red. She selected some stiff, true red satin like material for her bodice, as well as her skirt, but she also grabbed a small amount of deep red satin as well, plus some lace of the same color. The last thing she needed she struggled to find, searching the whole store.  
“Alya, have you seen any huge bags of gemstones? Preferably black.” she muttered to her friend over her shoulder, turning to look at her only to see she had already was looking at a bag of faux rubies. “Actually, those will work perfectly,” Mari whispered, snatching them from her hand. She tossed a spool of satin ribbon into the cart that her friend got after having held the bag for her own dress for over 20 minutes, as well as the bag of faux rubies. She scurried across the store and ended up just buying a bunch of metal hoops in varying sizes so she could make her own skirt, and finally, dumped two plastic-y masks into the cart.  
“Your total will be €328.45.” the cashier said, raising her eyebrow at the two young girls. They pooled their money, the cashier counting as the girls were, and they finally paid for it with only €13.55 left between the two of them. They each carried two bags of things, until they got back to Marinette’s place and emptied Alya’s on the floor to begin.  
Marinette had just begun to pick up after measuring Alya and pinning the pieces to her mannequin when she heard a short, sharp tap on the wall. She turned around, squealing and jumping away when she realized Chat Noir was in her room. Why was Chat Noir in her room?  
“Well hello Princess, is someone getting ready to go to the ball?” He teased her, ruffling his fingers through the piles of fabric scattered around the room.  
“That is, in fact, exactly what I’m doing,” Marinette replied harshly, shocking the poor boy, “May I ask what you are doing here, in my bedroom? And what made you think that you could come into my bedroom?” she questioned him, before noticing he was looking around her bedroom. At the photos she had on her wall. Of Adrien.  
“I’m here because I was patrolling, as one does, and I saw you and a girl in here throwing things and I thought I should intervene, as one does when one sees a fight occurring. May I ask who this young man is and why you have so many pictures of him in your room?” Chat, teased, grinning when he bumped the mouse by her computer and it turned on to reveal even more photos of himself.  
Marinette blushed deeply, her face almost the same color as the fabric for her dress that was lying folded neatly on the floor. “That girl was my best friend, and we were not fighting. As for why I have so many photos of this kid,” she trailed off, trying to think of something to say in the case that Chat was in fact Adrien. She drew up blank, so she sighed before sitting down in her desk chair and covering her face with her hands. “I just really like him, and he’s a famous model so it’s not too hard to come by photos of him.” She blurted out, tucking her knees up in front of her face as yet another barrier from the laughter that was sure to erupt. When a few moments passed and nothing happened she peeked out from between her fingers, only to see Chat halfway across the room and looking at other photos. “Why do you care do you know him or something?” I asked, trying to see if he would do anything that would give him away.  
“Nah,” Chat answered smoothly, “I just wish someone would do this for me. However I have been told we look similar,” Chat joked, flashing a grin to Marinette.  
“You’re Chat Noir, do you know how many girls probably have shrines to you in their rooms or under their beds or whatever?” Marinette stood up, confusion on her face as she began to pace, frustrated with the dumb cat, “I genuinely do not understand how you can be you, a famous superhero, and think that no one has photos of you up in their room. I know-” Marinette cut herself off before she finished her statement, as she realized it would be a dead giveaway if she told him that she knew people had her photos up.   
This sudden pause caught his attention as his head snapped towards the girl, “You know… what, exactly?” he purred, running his claw gently under her chin until she was looking up at him, and then he gently ran his thumb over her cheekbone, knowing from earlier the effect it had on the girl.  
“I was just gonna say that I know for a fact there are at least 3 girls in my school alone who have Chat Noir posters up on their walls.” Marinette finished, her voice nervous and breathy, “Now can I please ask you to leave,” she murmured, her face once again bright red.  
“Okay.” Chat answered, his hand off of her face and his body out of her room before she could even process the thought of saying thank you.  
“Uh what the heck was that, Tikki?” Marinette blurted out, her eyebrows furrowed.  
“I have no idea,” Tikki responded, her high pitched voice slightly concerned.  
And as much as the encounter with the cat had scared her, it was entirely Chat Noir behavior and absolutely no Adrien Agreste, which helped her calm her mind a bit for the night. She quickly sat down and stitched together the bodice of Alya’s dress and began to work on the details when the alarm on her phone went off, telling her she had to meet Chat for nightly patrols. She groaned, and grudgingly transformed before swinging over the city to him.


	4. Meurtri

Adrien awoke to his blaring alarm, feeling as though he had just fallen asleep when it went off. Grumbling quietly he sat up and stretched, getting a series of satisfying pops from his spine and shoulders. He reached down and gently pressed on the bruise blossoming across his side, grimacing in pain at the sharp sting. He stood, lifting his tank top and turning to look at himself in the mirror and getting a nice view of his side, mottled in varying shades of black, blue, purple, green, red, and yellow. There wasn’t an akuma attack or anything during the night patrol, but there was a man breaking into a store. Ladybug and him had split up, so he called her to let her know what was going on before dropping in. It turns out he should have waited for her, as he had greatly underestimated the man’s strength and ability and ended up with a baseball bat to the ribs, followed by the man repeatedly kicking him in the side once he was down. Ladybug dropped in just in time to loop her yoyo around the bat before the man brought it down on Adrien’s head. She had rushed over, helping him up and fussing over him until he left, his face flushed with embarassment as he shouted over his shoulder that he was fine. Now here he was, not fine. He gingerly took off his tank top and changed into school clothes, gently setting his bag against his injured side before heading out to meet his driver so he could get to school.  
Marinette was running late again, she and Tikki had both slept through her alarm, meaning she didn’t wake up until her mother came in to check on her at 8:17. She threw a random skirt on and her jacket, grabbing a granola bar and two ribbons as she rushed out the door. She jogged to school, trying to tie her hair back into her usual pigtails and failing several times before giving up and just leaving her hair down for the day. She heard the bell ring just as she slammed the door open to the classroom and slid into her seat for her classes today. She turned to look at Alya, her best friend not surprised that Marinette was late once again. Nino laughed a little at her flushed face and mussed hair, and Adrien turned and grinned at the sight as well.  
“You should wear your hair down more often,” Adrien whispered to her before turning back to face the teacher.  
Marinette sat stone still for almost a minute after he spoke before her brain processed what had happened and her face turned an appropriate shade of red. She turned to look at Alya, who just shrugged and looked back at Adrien, who was attentively taking notes.  
Once morning classes were over, she met her group of friends once again, all of them deciding that they should eat lunch at Marinette’s place, because it was so close and the baked goods were fantastic.  
Marinette adjusted her bag on her shoulders as she entered the bakery, waving to her parents and leaning over the counter to give each a kiss on their cheek before grabbing some goods for her friends and heading up to the living area. They all plopped on the couch, sandwhiches on home made bread in hand, and turned on the TV. Nino and Alya sat comfortably on one end of the couch, both of them stooped over her phone ocassionally giggling at whatever they were watching, while Adrien sat at the other, Mari set in the middle equal distance from both parties. She curled her legs under her and took delicate bites of her sandwhich as she watched the program that was currently on, although her attention was fully on Adrien who sat a few feet away. He seemed to be rather preoccuppied in thought, his eyebrows knitted together in a worrisome expression.  
“Hey what’s on your mind?” She asked him, scooting closer to him despite her racing heart. When he didn’t answer right away, she gently nudged his side with her elbow, jumping and moving away when he hissed in pain. “What’s wrong?” Mari immediately overcame her awkwardness, worry taking over everything.  
“Ah, nothing it’s just a bruise,” he muttered, looking up at her as he put his arm down in between them.  
“Must be pretty bad to get that response from just touching it,” she murmured, her hands still neatly folded on her lap, “Can I see?”  
“Uhm. I’d rather you not..” he trailed off, her wide indigo eyes catching him off guard, the amount of concern in them making him feel like crying, “Okay sure just not right now,” he gave in.  
“I’ll talk to you after school in the locker room then, okay?” she reached out and gently patted his shoulder, standing and collecting empty plates before grabbing her stuff and heading back out to go to school, her friends tailing not too far behind.  
The day seemed to drag on, Marinette impatiently waiting for the final bell, so when it finally came she leaped out of her seat and rushed to her locker, waiting for everyone else to clear out while she pretended to read something on her phone. Soon, it was just her and Adrien alone in the room. He walked up to her, discomfort written all over his face.  
“Let me see,” she looked at him, her worry evident in her eyes, her gentle touch, and the tone of her voice.  
“Okay.” Adrien gently lifted the bottom hem of his shirt, revealing part of the bruise, even larger and darker than it had been this morning due to constant pressure and minor bumps from the people around him.  
Marinette gasped and looked up at him, “How big is it?” He sighed, reaching to the bottom of his shirt and peeling it off, revealing it spanned his entire left side, the red purple spreading almost halfway across his chest and back before fading into his normal skin  
Her hand lifted to her lips, her eyebrows scrunched up and her jaw slightly open as she gasped. She gently pulled his arm out of the way, touching his side as gently as she could as she felt the bruise, “Who did this to you?” she looked up at him, her once fearful eyes full of fire, something he had never seen in the shy girl before, but still looked very familiar.  
“I uh. Did it to myself, I underestimated someone’s ability and took quite the hit.” he muttered, his face turning redder than his Lady’s suit as he remembered the night before.  
Marinette’s mind was racing. Her thoughts flashed back to the night before, Chat on the ground, curled up, holding his left side as the man held a bat threateningly above his head. Yesterday morning, during the akuma attack, when he had said his name and it sounded eerily similar to Adrien Agreste. All the times when Chat Noir didn’t show up to a fight on time, but Adrien was present, or all the times Adrien disappeared right before Chat showed up. Now that she was really thinking about it, it made sense. She looked up at him, imagining him with ears and a mask and she almost entirely eliminated her suspicion. She pulled her hands off his side quickly, looking up at the boy in front of her. She thought of all the times Chat had flirted with her, and she had pushed him away, telling herself she liked Adrien and not her kitty.  
Adrien watched Marinette, confusion peeking through his neutral, if not mildly flushed, expression. The girl had paused for a moment, her normally pink cheeks fading into an unnatural white, and her eyes drifting out of focus. He knotted his eyebrows together in concern instead of pain when she pulled her hands quickly away from his side, a sharp, shaky exhale accentuating the motion. “What’s wrong, Marinette?”  
“Oh uh, n-nothing. Nothing I-I just. Thought of something.” she turned red once again, gesturing with her hands as she shook her head, brushing off his concern. She took a step back, meeting Adrien’s eyes before turning away, “I have to uh. Go do something r-really quick,” she muttered, waving over her shoulder before hurriedly leaving the locker room.  
Adrien stared after her, the confused expression never leaving his face as he thought about what just happened.


	5. Mon Amour

Marinette sat in her bedroom, meticulously hand sewing each gemstone to the top layer of her skirt. She decided that this was the thing to work on right now, as it was a rather mindless and monotonous task, leaving her room to ponder over her newfound discovery. Once she finished the gemstones around her waist, she began on the satin.   
“Tikki, how didn’t I see it earlier?” Marinette moaned to her kwami, wincing when she drew a drop of blood from her finger with the needle she was haphazardly shoving through several layers of satin and crepe fabric. “Good thing the dress is already red,” she muttered before wrapping her lips around her pointer finger as she searched for a bandage with her other hand. Just as she found the box of bandages, she heard a knock on her window. Her heart skipped a beat as she turned around to see Chat Noir sitting on her windowsill. Adrien sitting on her windowsill? She still couldn’t seem to wrap her head around the fact that they were one in the same. Blushing, she grabbed a bandage and peeled it open, wrapping it around her finger before turning to glare at the cat sitting in her window.  
Adrien giggle, grinning at the girl when she turned around, her finger in her mouth. Once she bandaged it and looked back at him, he stuck his bottom lip out and made kitten eyes, to meet the steely glare of the girl before him.  
“Gah fine,” she groaned, turning around and opening up the trapdoor to her balcony and waiting for the cat to come in, “What do you want this time, Chat?” she said, exasperation evident in her voice.  
“Oh nothing much, just swinging by, Princess. I see you’ve made a great deal of progress on your dress,” He gestured past her to the nearly completed bodice on the mannequin and the rumpled skirt on the floor.  
“Haha thanks I appreciate being made fun of,” she glared at him, letting her eyes run down to the left side of his torso. She was tempted, just as one final check, to nonchalantly bump into him. She turned to pick the dress up off the floor, folding it and setting it on her bed before heading back towards him.  
Adrien turned around to see where the girl was looking, when she brushed past his bumping her shoulder into his bruise on the way. He sucked air in through his teeth, meeting her eyes when she sat on her computer chair and spun around to face him.  
“S-so.” Marinette stuttered, the fact finally weaseling her way into her vocal cords that she should make a fool of herself while talking to this boy, “anything you w-wanna talk about while you’re um. W-while you’re here?” she reached her hands up behind her neck, gently messing with her hair to giver herself something to think about.  
“Nah, just wanna talk. You’re so talented, how do you design stuff like this?” He turned away, gesturing to the head of red cloth on her bed.  
“W-well I don’t really um, know. I’m under a b-bit of pressure right now to er, finish those so I guess the pressure helped me design.” Marinette gently pulled on a chunk of her hair, her face feeling progressively warmer until she was almost sweating. She had had almost six hours since she saw Adrien after school to figure out her life, but she obviously needed more time. It probably didn’t help her current state of mind that he was in her room, with photos of him all over, while she was sitting there in a spaghetti strap tank top and short shorts. Normally, visitors didn’t swing by her room at 9:30 at night.  
“You mentioned a ball when I was here yesterday?” he looked at her from the corner of his eye, his eyebrow lifting slightly.  
“Oh yeah, um. That’s the deadline actually. It’s next week, and Alya and I decided we were going to be the best d-dressed ones there, so I um. Offered to make our dresses, t-tailor them specifically for us, which was a bad idea because n-now not only do I have to finish the uh, the dresses before th-the ball, I have to k-keep up on homework, help my parents in the um. The bakery, figure out how to g-get my crush to ask me and almost every single n-night I h-” she cut herself off, realizing she about to out herself as Ladybug.  
“Who’s this crush of yours?” he turned around, and Marinette felt her stomach drop, “and why, I do wonder, did you cut yourself off? What do you have to do every night?” He took another step closer to the girl, reaching out to rest his hands on the armrests of her chair.  
She looked at both hands, trapping her where she was, and then looked back into Adrien’s, no, Chat’s vibrant green eyes. Her breath caught in her throat, her jaw dropping a fraction of an inch as she tried to grasp another. “H-how badly do you want the answers t-to those questions?” She gulped, trying to appear confident despite the fact that her face felt like it was on fire.  
“Oh, trust me, princess,” he leaned closer to her, whispering in her ear, “very badly.” His breath stirred the baby hairs at the base of her neck, and goosebumps spread up her arms. Chat immediately noticed, softly laughing as he pulled away and stood up. “Do I make you nervous?” he grinned.  
“Which one do you want to know more, I’ll only answer one right now.” Marinette’s voice came out clear and strong, shocking both people who were present.  
“Let’s start with this little crush of yours,” he said, resting his hand on his hip as he turned to look at her.  
“Oh silly kitty,” she laughed, channeling her inner Ladybug, “that was a bad choice. You could probably guess just from the decor in my room,” she grinned devilishly.  
Adrien let his gaze briefly fall to the smirk that fell across her lips, before looking around the room he was in. He had known it was covered in photos of him, but she had passed it off as admiration of his work. Now he knew better, and he turned back to look at her, only to see her leaning against her bedpost.  
“My big crush, is none other than Adrien Agreste.”  
His heart nearly stopped.


	6. Coccinelle

“Plagg, wh-” Adrien paced across his bedroom, his hair sticking up in a million different directions as he still struggled to wrap his mind about what had happened at Marinette’s house. “There has to be something wrong, why do I feel this way I like Ladybug,” he muttered.  
“I mean, you have been seeing Marinette a lot more recently, and during the fight with Evillustrator last year I sensed some jealousy, so even way back then there was something there for her,” Plagg spoke with uncharacteristic wisdom, not that the kwami wasn’t wise, just that he never shared his abundance of knowledge with Adrien despite his constant pleads.  
“Pshh no,” he waved off the kwami, “we were just friends and I was concerned is all,” he nodded, as if trying to convince himself the words were true, and Plagg saw right through it, almost choking on his camembert when he started laughing.  
“Even if you were just friends, which you weren’t, I know I could tell, you said ‘were’, which means you feel differently now. And right now, I can truthfully tell you, you are head over heels for Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Plagg concluded, flying over to the stash of cheese to grab yet another slice.  
“I already told you, I’m in love with Ladybug,” Adrien shook his head, unable to help the heat that was spreading across his face.  
“That you are,” Plagg agreed, a smirk playing at his little fanged mouth as he watched Adrien process what he had just said.  
“What are you even trying to get me to do, Plagg? How can I be ‘head over heels’ as you so graciously put it, for two entirely different girls?”   
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Plagg flew away, a faint chuckle could be hear as he tucked himself into Adrien’s dirty clothes bin.  
Adrien had just flopped onto his bin when a soft scream could be heard floating up from the ground through his opened window. He peered out, only to see a trail of people writing on the ground, and a lady-  
His face turned bright red when he finally understood what this akuma was, the woman whipping people and strutting down the street in lacy lingerie and nothing else.  
“Plagg, claws out!” he called, leaping through the window towards the akumatized prostitute.  
Ladybug swung into the scene, noting Chat had already arrived and swinging to his side. “What is this?” she questioned him, her face crinkled up in disgust at the middle age woman wearing far too little clothing for her comfort.  
“What I’ve gathered so far is she used to be a prostitute, but an akuma scarred her up so no one wanted to uhm…” he trailed off, Ladybug looking over at him to see a warm pink blush creeping out from under his mask, “anyways, she obviously was into BDSM or S&M or something along those lines, given the whip, which I’m guessing is the akumatized object,” he gestured to the long whip.  
“What does it do if she hits someone with it?” Ladybug turned to look at him, her face a little pink with discomfort at the conversation as well.  
“As far as I can tell, it uh. It makes people… uhm..” his blush deepened tenfold as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, not wanting to finish the sentence.  
“I got it thanks no need to complete that thought,” she laughed, throwing her yoyo up across the street. She watched Chat hopping around the woman, nimbly avoiding the sharp cracks of the whip as Ladybug gathered her thoughts. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head, making her giggle at how dumb she would look, but she was pretty certain it would work. She hurled herself from her vantage point, falling onto the woman’s almost naked back, her leather-like suit slapping against her bare skin creating a very uncomfortable noise. She reaches around the woman, trying grab the whip from her fingers.  
The prostitute began lashing out at Ladybug, her attention off the cat and onto the pesky bug that had settled on her back, “Oh, do you want some action from my whip that bad that you’re willing to take it from me?” the woman questioned suggestively, the wink thrown over her shoulder at Ladybug making the young girl blush even harder.  
Ladybug reached around her, wrapping her slender fingers around the whips handle and finally getting it free from the woman’s grasp to break it, but not until after she felt a gentle stinging on her upper thigh. Her vision began to soften and her body got uncomfortably warm as she broke the whip, releasing the akuma. She managed somehow through her daze to trap it, but she fell to the ground panting and covered in a sheen of sweat, failing to release it back into the world. This also meant that the damage couldn’t be undone as of now, until she got back into the right state of mind to perform her healing light.  
Adrien rushed over to Ladybug who appeared to be down for the count, kneeling next to and trying to get her to focus, “Hi there, milady, I can see you’ve hit a bit of a rough patch, eh, you gotta get up though, you have to you are about to detransform,” he gently shook her shoulders, meeting her eyes when hers flicked to his, her blown pupils leaving almost none of her indigo iris visible.  
“What if I want to detransform for you,” Ladybug struggled to sit up, gently running her palm down Chat Noir’s chest, before hungrily meeting his eyes once more as her tongue ran along her lower lip.  
“As much as I would enjoy that,” Chat mumbled, distracted by the girl in front if him, “I can’t let you do that, it would be against your will Ladybug, because this isn’t you. It would be like if you were drunk.” He pulled her over his shoulder once he realized she wasn’t going to hide somewhere to detransform, shooting himself across the city and back to the secluded space of his bedroom.  
Ladybug reached down once she had felt herself still, gently squeezing Chat’s butt and causing him to jump.  
“Milady I must request that you st-” he was cut off as Ladybug pressed her lips to his.  
“Shhhh you talk too much kitty,” she murmured.  
He soon relaxed into the kiss, forgetting quickly that this wasn’t his Ladybug. He let himself be pulled across his bedroom, the girl pulling her lips away long enough to sprawl herself on the bed before pulling Adrien back on top of her. He hesitated, not wanting to continue before she once again pulled his lips onto hers and he once again enjoyed every moment. Her miraculous began to beep, and Chat pulled away sharply.  
“Milady, you’re about to detransform,” he pressed her to be concerned, “You must le-” he stopped talking as her lips once again pressed against his, her hand running down his chest and getting every closer to his-  
Ladybug had detransformed. The bright flash against his closed eyelids and loose cottony clothing he felt beneath his fingers told him of that. However, her hand still crept ever closer to his groin, as she began gently palming him through his catsuit.  
Adrien shoved himself away from the kiss, sliding off the end of his bed and scrambling across the floor until his head bumped that back of his couch. He instinctively opened his eyes, turning to look at his attacker only to screw them shut again as he remembered why they were closed, but it was too late. He had seen her without her mask, and he was mildly shocked, to say the least. Plagg’s earlier words now made sense to him.  
Marinette slid off the bed, watching the boy miserably open his eyes after he realized his oopsie. She got on her knees, crawling into the boy’s lap and slowly beginning to kiss him once more, until he shoved her off, tying her hands behind her back and setting her on his bed where she would stop bugging him.  
“Ooh kinky,” she giggled, distracting the already highly distracted boy as he paced back and forth across his room. Marinette’s kwami, who he learned was called Tikki, flitted nervously around Marinette’s head.  
“If you could just get me a cookie I would be able to transform her and you could let the butterfly go and perform the healing light,” the kwami squeaked.  
Chat Noir looked at her, “and how exactly am I supposed to use her powers?” he questioned; fear still had it’s cold fingers wrapped around him.  
“Well they’re not her powers per se, more like a powerful item that was created using her power. So technically, anyone who holds a miraculous could perform the healing light if they were given the right materials. The right materials this time being the white butterfly from her yoyo, and the shoelace she has in her hand still,” the bug like creature gestured to the horny girl, a shoelace in fact wrapped around her wrist.  
Adrien raced to his kitchen to grab cookies, detransforming and retransforming in his doorway before rushing the kwami to shovel in some sustenance.  
“Okay, Marinette, I just need you to say two little words okay? Spots on, okay?” Tikki encouraged the girl to speak up, only getting an unintelligible mumble of noises from her, followed by an adorably soft giggle, her nose scrunching up as her face grew redder.  
“Fine whatever that’ll have to do,” Tikki muttered, flying into the miraculous gems as Marinette transformed back into Ladybug. Adrien reached out, taking the yoyo and untying the shoelace from her wrist, all while trying to ignore the beautiful girl who was kissing his throat and tugging on his earlobe with her teeth. She softly moaned when he pulled away, almost pulling Chat back into her lips with the noise alone. He turned away, leaping out the window and shooting himself to his roof before releasing the butterfly and hurling the shoelace into the opening sky.  
“Miraculous Ladybug!” he shouted, watching as the ladybugs flashed around the city, righting the wrongs that the battle had created, before flinging himself back into his room. Marinette was still transformed as Ladybug, but she was out cold once again and he slung her over his shoulder, desperate to get her out of his room before she woke up. He plopped her on the roof and was just finishing untying her before she came to.  
“What just happened,” she mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes before reaching down and massaging her thumb against her upper thigh, “She got my leg with her whip before I broke it, but then everything got real hazy real fast and I can’t clearly remember much.”  
“Oh it was no big deal, Mar- Milady,” Adrien caught himself, rubbing his neck uncomfortably as he thought back to her… affected state of mind.  
She obviously remembered something at this point, as her face turned white as a sheet, “Oh my god Chat, I’m so sorry I would never do that normally I don’t know why I did that, it wasn’t me I sw-”  
“Shh shhh shhh, I know it was the akuma you’re fine it’s like I said, no biggie,” He grinned half heartedly at the embarrassed girl, gently rubbing her shoulders until she calmed down a bit.  
“Did I… do anything,” she murmured, looking up at him with fear in her eyes.  
He knew what she was asking, and he was determined to let her keep her secret, “No, milady. Nothing happened. I swear on my ninth life,” he held up his hand and ran his nail in an ‘x’ across his heart with his other.  
She sighed, falling back onto the stones behind her, “Oh thank god.” she grinned, relief spreading across her face, “You’d probably hate me if you knew.”


	7. Roses et Mensonges

Marinette swung back onto her balcony after her patrol that Friday afternoon, the sun almost touching the rooftops of the skyline, but still casting a warm white light over her rooftop. She slipped behind her plants, detransforming where no one could possibly see before coming back out to stand on her balcony and watch the city. Tikki fluttered out of her bag, coming to nestle in the crook of her neck under her pigtails.  
“Marinette, how are you feeling?” the little ladybug said, concern lacing her voice.  
“I don’t know, Tikki,” she leaned forward, resting her elbows on the metal railing, “I can’t believe I did that. I kissed Chat. Adrien. Him.”  
“It wasn’t your fault, it was the ak-”  
“Yeah yeah, it was the akuma I know I know. I also know for a fact that I had to have detransformed during the whole ordeal.” She glanced over to Tikki, who had fluttered out in front of her a little bit more. “Are you sure Adrien didn’t see anything?”  
“He said he didn’t Marinette, don’t you trust him?” Tikki’s face crumpled up a little, “And even if he did see, would that be the worst thing?”  
“Did he see anything.” Marinette got a cold look in her eyes as she glared at her kwami.  
Tikki sighed. “No I don’t think he did.”  
“Thank god. Okay. I need time to relax, I’m going to have Alya over and work on her dress for a couple hours,” she nodded, pulling out her phone to call her best friend.  
Alya arrived in minutes, squealing about how excited she was for the weekend after the next.  
“Calm down, Alya!” Marinette laughed, pulling the mannequin out of her closet to show the excited girl.  
Alya gasped, her hands going first to her mouth and then immediately out to the dress, running her fingers over the crisp folds of the skirt and detailed trim of the bodice. She looked up at me, her eyes wide as saucers and her pupils blown, “Can I put it on?” she mumbled, screeching like a pterodactyl when Marinette nodded.  
“Okay does it fit alright?” Marinette looked at this dress. It was hanging right, the crinoline underneath wasn’t visible from the outside due to 5 layers of tulle fluffing the skirt up and the bodice seemed snug, but it didn’t look too tight.  
“Yes, except the arms are a little tight around the shoulders, any chance you could take them out like. A centimeter?” Alya rolled her shoulders, freezing when she heard a popping of a seam.  
Marinette burst into laughter at the fear that crossed her friends face, reaching out to look at the seam of the lacey sleeves, “I left almost an inch of wiggle room, we can absolutely let it out a centimeter,” she couldn’t stop grinning and she helped her friend remove the dress, turning it inside out and undoing the seam.  
“So Alya. I have a question.” she turned to look at her friend, who already had her eyebrows raised.  
“Yes?”  
“How do you tell someone, say your crush, something that you feel he should know but is a really big secret?” her eyes were on her fingers again, hand sewing instead of using the machine this time so it would be more accurately measured.  
“Well that depends. What’s the secret?”  
“That’s the thing. I can’t tell you.” she looked up, taking in the confusion and hurt in her best friends eyes before continuing, “Not that I haven’t wanted to every single time the topic is brushed in conversation, but it’s really personal to me and I don’t want to drag you into it if you know.”  
“Mari, you can tell me anything and I will keep it a secret, you know that right?” she reached out, resting her hand on my shoulder.  
“I know that. Except for this. I cannot tell you this.” Mari sighed, looking down at her hands as she began sewing once again, her vision blurring slightly as her eyes started watering.   
“Oh,” Alya whispered, lifting Marinette’s face with her hands and brushing the tears off her cheeks, “do your parents know?”  
Marinette’s cheeks burned, “No.”  
“If you feel you can’t tell me or your parents, why would you want to tell Adrien?”  
“Because I know something about him, too. Something that he doesn’t tell anyone. And he didn’t tell me, I discovered it on my own. And I feel like I need to tell him something in return.”  
“Sweetie, if he didn’t tell you and you weren’t snooping to find out then he should expect nothing from you. Does he even know you know?”  
Marinette hesitated, “No, I don’t think he does.” she sighed, the weight of her decision lifting slightly when she concluded that she didn’t owe him anything.  
“Then don’t tell him if it’s stressing you out so much, sweetie.”  
“I don’t think I’m going to. Here try this on again and see if the sleeves are any better.” Marinette held out the altered dress, watching Alya slip her arms into it with no problem.  
“It feels a lot better,” she smiled, rolling her shoulders around and throwing her arms up to test it, “Thank you for making me this, Mari.” Alya extended her hand to the bluenette that was still seated on the floor next to her.  
“Yeah it was no problem. Do you want to work on masks together? I’m going to let you see my mask so you’ll be able to find me at the ball when I’m in my gorgeous dress,” Mari spun, pretending to feel the swoosh of the dress around her ankles as she fake waltzed across her bedroom to the box full of mask supplies.  
“As much as I would love to stay and work on our masks, I have mandatory dinner tonight. Some big family announcement or something, I’m not really sure. I’m sorry girlie, maybe I can hang out tomorrow to work on them?”  
“Yeah that’ll work! I am going to need you to take off the dress though so I can finish the last few touches before the ball. Also, if you have the shoes you’re going to wear could you bring them over tomorrow when you come to work on the masks?”  
“Yeah sure. See you then!” Alya called as she closed the trapdoor behind her on the way out of Mari’s room.  
“Tikki.”  
“Yes Mari?”  
“I’m gonna tell him.”  
“Don’t you dare!” The little bug squeaked, her eyes widening, “Didn’t you hear what Alya JUST said!?”  
“Yep.” she sighed, a pained grin on her face as her eyes began watering. “I hate this though, Tikki. I know that both sides of him are the same person, which significantly reduced the confusion I was feeling when I thought they were two separate people but had feelings for both of them. I know for a fact he loves Ladybug, he tells her almost every time they’re together. And I’m pretty sure he likes me, he comes and hangs out at my house all the time.” Marinette began pacing back and forth across her bedroom, “and I feel like it’s unfair, me knowing and all my emotions being wrapped up in one nice little package. But him, I feel like he might really be split between two people and I want to make that easier. I have to do this.”  
“Marinette this will just make everything more complicated, are you sure you really want this?”  
Marinette looked at her, sitting down on her bed and sighing. “No, no I’m not.”


	8. Embrasser

Adrien woke up early despite the fact that it was Saturday morning; he had to go patrol with Ladybug because that was his job. He hated his job sometimes. Groaning, he dragged himself out of bed, sliding his legs onto the floor and his body thudding against the wood not long after. The boy was now in a mound on the floor, cold and miserable but still sleepy.  
“Plagg,” he mumbled, calling to the useless creature, “I need you, I need your boost,” he pushed his hand out in the general direction of the cheese cabinet that the kwami slept in.  
“I’m just as tired as you are, kid,” the creature grumbled, floating out from the cabinet and slowly towards the boy.  
“Plagg, claws out!” Adrien called, transforming quickly into Chat Noir. He was still slumped on the floor, but he had gotten a burst of energy. He climbed out his open window, and began the short trek across town to the Eiffel Tower.  
Softly landing on a support beam, Adrien nimbly made his way through until he was standing behind Ladybug, who seemed to have about as much energy as he did.  
“Bonjour, milady,” he mumbled, sitting next to Ladybug only to stand once more as she shot off into the city to begin their patrol. The uncomfortable silence stayed heavy through the entire route, Adrien not wanting to talk in case he said something wrong.  
Upon arriving back at the tower after an unnervingly wordless patrol, the duo once again sat at the top, their legs dangling off the edge precariously.  
Laying on the metal beam behind him and sighing dramatically, Adrien tried to strike up conversation “I feel like you’re just as tired as I am.”  
Ladybug turned towards him, taking in the sight of him stretched out in the sun like a cat before answering, “I had some trouble falling asleep last night,” she began swinging her legs back and forth, “Had a lot of things to do and then when I decided to just stop I ended up rolling around stressing out about how I didn’t finish the things.” Her voice grew steadily more frustrated as she spoke, her arms waving frantically and her voice almost at a shout by the end of her small rant.  
“Do you wanna talk about it with me?” Chat reached out to gently rest his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently before continuing, “What didn’t you finish? What were you working on? Why is it so important to you?”  
“I have to make something big for my friend for this uh, this event, and I am almost done but it’s missing something and I don’t know what. And I also have to study for my physics test which is on Monday. And I never pay attention in class because the person I like sits. Right. Like directly in front of me,” she accentuated her words by making a karate chopping motion with one hand onto her other, and Adrien knew she was talking about him.  
“How odd. I also have a physics test on Monday. Is there any chance we go to the same school?” Chat purred, teasing her.  
“Pshh I highly doubt it,” Marinette turned to look at him, crossing her arms across her chest and bringing her fingers to her lips as her face creased with over dramatized sincerity.  
“Anyways, I think you should, when we’re done here, go home and take a nap, and then sit down for a few hours and work on something else other than those two things.” He turned himself towards Marinette, “Maybe clean up some stuff around your room, redecorate, bake I don’t know, but don’t think about those things until like,” Adrien feigned thoughtfulness, “3pm.”  
Marinette laughed softly, shaking her head as she peeked up at the boy sitting next to her through her bangs, “I’ll be sure to do that, M. Therapist Doctor Man.”  
“Are you teasing me?” Chat held a paw to his chest in fake shock as he stood, watching Ladybug stand as well. He reached behind his back to grab his baton, his warning beep going off, “Gotta go, Bugaboo, I’ll see you tonight" he turned to leap off the tower only to be pulled back towards Ladybug by his wrist.  
He turned towards her about to ask her what she wanted when he felt her lips softly press against his cheek and all words left him.  
“Thank you. For the advice.” she whispered, her breathe warm against his face as he stood frozen. She turned and gracefully leaped off the tower, swinging into the awakening city and Adrien remained still on the top of the tower. He slowly brought his hand up to his face where she had kissed him, his cheeks growing warmer as he realized what happened.  
“She kissed me,” he whispered to no one in particular, a bright smile growing across his face. “She kissed me!” he shouted to the whole of Paris, whooping and hollering as he leaped off the tower and flung himself across the city back to his home, the smile never leaving his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was really short I'm mid finals week and I haven't had a lot of time to write my bad.


	9. Il m'aime, Il ne m'aime pas

Marinette woke up Sunday morning to a persistent knocking noise. She stretched, looking at her trapdoor expecting one of her parents’ heads to pop up, only to hear the knocking again from the opposite direction. Her head snapped around, meeting a pair of neon green eyes peering in through her window. She sighed, rubbing sleep out of her eyes and standing to head over to the trapdoor leading to her terrace. She climbed, stepping up and leaning over to close it behind her only to turn around to find herself nose to nose with Chat. Her eyes crossed to look down at their touching noses, causing the boy to chuckle softly before Marinette stumbled away.  
“Why are you here so early, Chat.” Marinette queried, running her hand through her loose hair.  
“It’s almost 1, it’s not early, princess.” Chat responded.  
“I got to bed rather late last night I had a lot of stuff to work on and it took all of my time before I could finish it.”  
“Was it those dresses?” Chat frowned, recalling his advice from the day before.  
“Yeah, and the masks that go along with them. I finished both dresses and one of the masks though! But yeah. I didn’t get to bed until almost 4 am.”  
“Marinette! I thought I told yo-” Chat cut himself off at her confused glance when he realized, no he hadn’t told her. He had told Ladybug, and as far as he was concerned they were two very different people. He stood with his jaw working up and down silently as though he were a fish out of water, his bright green eyes wide as her blue ones narrowed to a glare.  
“You thought you told me what?” she practically growled, his suspiscious behavior sending off warning bells in her head. Was Tikki wrong? Had he seen her transform?  
“Oh never mind I was thinking of another conversation, my bad.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck nervously.  
“Anyways,” Marinette began once again, suspiscion still laced through her voice, “why are you here, in the middle of the day on a Sunday.” she queried, her eyebrow cocking up towards her bangs.  
“Why can’t a cat visit his favorite person just because every once in a while?” Chat flirted, bouncing himself up and down on her bed.  
Marinette felt her face heat up as she turned to look at him, “I’m your favorite person? What about Ladybug? I thought you were in love with her.”  
“Oh I am.” He said simply, “She doesn’t think I’m being serious when I tell her though, even though I am more serious than global warming. Which makes me sad so I decided that I should make someone who doesn’t make me sad my favorite person.” Chat picked his words carefully, knowing that saying he didn’t love his Lady anymore would hurt the girl in front of him and saying he loved his Lady more would also hurt her. There was a gray area in the middle where he operated.  
“How doesn’t she see you’re serious?” Marinette mumbled, seemingly more to herself than Chat.  
His head snapped up to look at her, “What?”  
“How doesn’t she know you’re being serious? Even though you’re a major flirt, you seem like you’ve been nothing but honest with her, how didn’t she notice? The sincerity, I mean.”  
“I don’t know, Princess. You’ll have to ask her,” he sighed, climbing off her bed to head out.  
“I think I just might,” Marinette said decidedly, following the cat out of her bed, electing to ignore the fact that she was in her pj shorts and a tank top as she scurried around her room gathering a series of seemingly meaningless objects and sticking them into a little purse that she picked up off the ground near her bed. Adrien noticed her peak in, rustle some stuff around and then tuck a cookie in before turning to look at him. “Scram, mon chaton, I gotta change.”  
Adrien felt his cheeks turn pink, both at the nickname and the mere thought of her changing, before he stood, taking her hand to kiss her knuckles while making his exit.  
The trapdoor closed softly behind him and Marinette let out a lungful of air that she hadn’t know she’d been holding out when she saw him get to the other side of the street.  
“Tikki, what the heck was that?” she sighed dramatically, turning to the still open purse, “I thought you said he didn’t see anything?”  
“Marinette, I don’t think he did,” the kwami lied through her teeth, rather convincingly too.  
“Then why would he mix up Ladybug and I?”   
“Maybe it was just that: a mixup. You have been bleeding a lot more personall stuff into Ladybug, maybe he just got his two closest creative friends mixed up for a minute there.”  
“I don’t know. I guess I could just be stressed out.”  
“Probably. Now are you actually going to change and pretend to do something or are you going to let Chat wait there for hours while he waits for you to come out, because that boy will definitely do exactly that.”  
“Tikki. Do you think Adrien actually prefers me to Ladybug now? Like actually?”  
Tikki could feel her little heart twinge with the lie that followed, “I do, Marinette. That’s what he said.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, sorry it's rather short. I'm running out of ways to keep them from finding out the other knows, and I feel like I won't have anywhere to go from there. They're both being absolute dumbfucks right now and I'm fully aware and honestly I don't really like how I started with Marinette finding out but we're too far in now to fix that so uh here we are.


	10. Embué

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hehehehe

Later that night the super duo flew through their patrol, their friendly dynamic almost back to normal with the exception of an almost constant blush present on both faces that was written off by the other as simple exertion. Once they were satisfied that the city was safe for the night, they settled on the roof of a huge building, silently letting their gaze drift over the city and onto the masked person next to them before their eyes travelled back to the city skyline.  
“Hey M-Milady” Chat stuttered as he almost screwed up for the second time today.  
“Yes, chaton?” she turned her face towards him slightly, making eye contact for a moment before breaking it to look at the Parisian sunset once more.  
“I was going to call it a night, actually, but now I have a better idea,” Chat could feel his face heating up a little bit.  
“Oh no, that sounds like a bad idea,” Marinette joked, turning to look at him only to find his pink tinged face split with a grin. She couldn’t tell if the pink was from the lighting or if he was blushing. She didn’t know if she cared. It was Adrien, after all, and she honestly thought he could throw her into the Seine and she’d be perfectly fine with it. But she’d still whoop his ass afterwards.  
“We should switch miraculouses. I want to see what you look like as Chat.”  
Marinette stared at him with her mouth gaping, his interruption halting that train of thought.  
“Close your mouth Princess, we are not a codfish.” He joked, hooking his index finger under her chin and pushing her mouth closed.  
“Kitten how would we even go about that? That would require us to detransform!” she cried, secretly intrigued as to what Adrien would look like in her Ladybug costume.  
“Sit back to back on a roof somewhere, detransform, switch Miraculous’ and transform again?” he suggested, the grin never leaving his face as he began to bounce a little.  
“I’m going to say this again: that sounds like a bad idea,” her eyebrows knitted together a little in worry as she seriously considered going through with this really bad idea.  
“Buuuutttttt…..” Adrien persuaded her to continue, gesturing in a small circle with his hands telling her to finish the sentence.  
“But, I too would like to see what I look like as Chat Noir,” she grinned teasingly, absentmindedly twisting her earring post in her ear.  
“Good, I have a perfect place in mind, Milady, follow me,” he jumped off the side of the building, trusting Marinette to follow him. He lead the way to his house, settling on the roof between two dormers and pulling Ladybug down beside him, “Okay, sit back to back with me alright,” he murmured, knowing already who was beneath the mask.  
“Okay, kitty, promise you can’t see?” she whispered, her hands on her earlobes again as she messed with her earrings.  
“Purr-omise,” he whispered back, a smile on his face.  
“Tikki, spots off.”  
A pink light flashed blinding Adrien for a moment. He could feel Marinette moving around behind him to take the earrings out, suddenly wondering how he was to use them given his ears weren’t pierced.  
“Here you go, chaton,” she held the now black studs out to him over her head as he reached up to take them.  
“Plagg, claws in.” A green flash, followed by Adrien handing his silver ring to Marinette before looking back down at the earrings in his hands, shocked when he realized they had turned into a single silver strand with black and red beads strung along it. Grinning he tied it around his wrist.  
“Hey bug,” he heard Plagg’s voice say as he introduced himself to Marinette, “all you gotta do is say ‘Plagg, claws out’ and we’re in business.”  
“Plagg,” he heard her hesitate momentarily before continuing, “Claws out!” There was a flash of green.  
“Hi Chat Noir, say ‘Tikki, spots on’” a little red bug with black spots hovered in front of him.  
“Tikki, spots on,” he said with no hesitation wanting to turn around to see Marinette in his uniform.  
They both turned, noses bumping each other as they met in the middle. Marinette looking up into his normal green eyes, and Adrien meeting her catlike indigo ones.  
“Your eyes!” they both said in tandem, giggling as they both pulled away and stood.  
Adrien let his eyes travel down the new Chat Noir’s body, taking in the mussed bangs and long french braid that trailed down her back, a slight v-neck in her version of the suit showing off a bit of her collar bone, which was accentuated with a collar-like choker with a small silver bell. Her baton was strapped to her upper thigh, what looked like over the knee boots stopping just below the band keeping it there. He let his eyes go back up to hers, a light purple sclera with the same deep indigo iris, but with the feline pupil. He felt his mouth fall open, but he had no will to close it.  
She also took in his new look, starting with his normal eyes. And his normal hair. He looked exactly like Adrien like this, and for a moment she was amazed he hadn’t figured her out. Her eyes traveled further down. The collar on his suit was loose, almost like a coat that hadn’t been zipped all the way. He didn’t have gloves on his hands, and he appeared to also have black boots on, although they were more akin to work boots and less designer as her had been. His yo-yo sat on a much thicker belt, and instead of the single unit her suit had been his had more panels and what looked like stitches. She brought her attention back to his face, noting his dropped jaw as he looked at her new outfit.  
Considering the fact the she was now Chat Noir, she might as well act like him. She inhaled before taking a step forward and running a claw along his jawline, bringing his lips closer together as she closed his mouth.  
“Close your mouth, kitty,” she whispered in his ear, running the pad of her thumb over his lips while leaving the claw on his chin, “we are not a codfish.”  
He inhaled shakily as her warm breath rustled the hairs at the back of his neck. She was messing with him, and she sure as hell knew how to do it well. He looked at her, his face heating up significantly as she pulled away. An evil grin graced her face as she giggled, getting the exact reaction she wanted out of him.  
“First of all, that was incredibly rude of you,” Adrien started, putting his hand on his hip and leaning into it as he shoved his pointer finger in her face.He started again while he put his second finger up “Second of all,” he stopped, letting his gaze rake over her body once more before continuing even redder than before, “You should have the chat noir miraculous because holy hell… you’re hot.”  
Marinette felt herself blush as she spun, allowing the boy to see the uniform from all angles before turning back to him, “You’re not so bad yourself, milady,” she teased, dramatically bowing as she took his hand and pressed her lips to his knuckles. “I have a feline I know you from somewhere, though,” she joked, reaching out to brush his hair from covering his brow bone.   
He just stared at her, his lips still slightly parted from earlier, as his eyes traveled across her face and his body repeatedly notified him of her closeness. His eyes flicked down to her smirking lips, and she didn’t miss it. Before he could even glance back up, Marinette had wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled his face towards hers as their lips smashed together.  
Adrien couldn’t think for a moment, his eyes wide open with shock until he let his eyes flutter shut and he relaxed into the kiss. She softly shoved him until his back was pressed against the exterior wall of the dormer, and she reconnected their lips as her hands travelled down his body, muscles much clearer through the thinner fabric of the Ladybug suit.  
Suddenly, she was flipped, her back now against the cold wall and she was trapped between his arms and his body. Her wide eyes met his before glancing back down at his lips, the two meeting once again in the middle. She lifted her leg, wrapping it around behind him as he brought his hands to her waist, eventually lifting her enough she could wrap the other around him. He pushed her harder against the wall, shuddering when he felt her tongue brush across his bottom lip, followed by the gentle sting of her teeth as she softly bit it. He pulled his mouth away, smiling softly at the muted sounds of protest she made that was quickly muted by his lips gently pressing against her jugular as he lifted her higher. He had more skin on her neck exposed, he was going to use this to his advantage. He gently bit at her throat, pressing his swollen lips to the blossoming bruise before continuing down.  
“A-ad-” she stopped herself, “Kitty you can’t leave marks it’ll be a dead give away,” she muttered breathlessly, a soft moan escaping when he once again bit her neck, this time closer to her collar bone.  
“I think it’s a little late for that, milady.” he grinned at her like he was looking at prey, but grudgingly he left her neck alone and went back to her lips, much softer as he set her down. His lips went from her lips, to her nose, and finally to her forehead as he pulled her into a hug. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted that, milady.” He whispered.  
“I think I might have some idea,” she grinned, before sitting down and gesturing for him to follow, “and as much fun as it was, I think we ought to give back our kwamis.”  
He looked at her, her lips shiny and slightly swollen, her braid loosened and flung over her shoulder, her neck and collar bones covered in light lilac bruises rimmed in pink, that he knew would be worse by tomorrow. He couldn’t wait to see her try to explain those to Alya. He leaned towards her once more, kissing her softly before turning his back away to give her the ladybug miraculous back. Once they were back in the right costumes, the pair shared one last kiss before going their separate ways in the night, Adrien taking a short trip around the block before swinging back in his bedroom window, which he had been pressing Marinette against mere minutes before. He sighed happily, running his fingers softly over his still tender lips as he began to fall asleep, excited for the next morning. His mind went through the night once more, his eyes snapping open in alarm at one single line from Marinette’s mouth: “I have a feeling I know you from somewhere.”


	11. Révéler

Marinette woke up to the sound of her alarm, set extra early so she could tend to the mess that was her throat. She had come in late the night before, checking out the damage in the mirror and spending hours googling how to cover hickeys when she had seen how bad it was. That boy had no mercy. Sighing she threw on a cute red turtleneck sweater and a pair of dark denim jeans before heading to the bathroom to cover all that was still showing. She started with the most obvious, the one just under her jaw and spent almost an hour meticulously covering each and every visible bruise. She swung her backpack over her shoulder and rushed out the front door, waving goodbye to her mother over her shoulder and hoping to give her the smallest opportunity to see anything on her neck. She scurried across the street into school to sit at her desk, quietly pulling out a book to read for a few minutes, as she was the first person to class for the first time in literally her whole life.  
“Wow look who’s here on time for once.” Her head snapped up to see the source of the voice, her eye’s meeting Adrien’s as he slid into his seat.  
“You’re l-late almost as m-much as I am s-silly” she stuttered, nonchalantly pulling the neck of her shirt up higher.  
“Correction: I’m almost late. You’re consistently coming in after the bell.”  
Marinette laughed sharply, slipping into a more Ladybug-esque personality, “Yeah but you’re never here early, that’s for sure.” Her eyebrow raised as her hand abandoned her collar.  
“Mmmm. You’re right. I’m not.” he grinned turning around in his seat, leaving the conversation open but not appearing to want it to continue. What a tease.  
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng do my eyes deceive me?” cried Alya, her muted voice clarifying into a loud shout as she bust through the door of the classroom, her eyes already on the girl in question, “Are you here EARLY? For the first time, possibly EVER?” She stood there, her arm still holding the door open as she gaped at the girl.  
Marinette looked away, rubbing her neck self consciously before bringing her hands back down on her desk, “Surprise,” she said, grinning at the girl in the door before looking back down at her hands, the color draining from her face when she realized they had makeup all over them.  
Alya slid into the seat next to her, rustling through her bag and getting her things out before turning to the girl and opening her mouth to speak, only for a loud squeal to come out.  
“Marinette are those hic-” Marinette frantically slapped her palm over her best friends mouth, her eyes wide as she glanced at Adrien. He had been watching the animated duo since Alya had come in screaming, and his eyes didn’t give anything up.  
Now that he was looking harder at her neck, though, he could see a faint purpley red mark just under Marinette’s jaw. His eyes met hers as she frantically looked at him, her eyes wide with fear as she rapidly stood and dragged the redhead out of the room, her hand still plastered over her mouth as the door slammed behind them.  
Alya mumbled into Marinette’s hand, earning a glare from the noirette, and when they reached the bathroom and Marinette still hadn’t relelased her mouth, Alya bit down on her fingers. Hard.  
“Ow what the hell Alya?” Marinette shook her hand, wiping it off on her jeans before looking up at Alya.  
“Are those hickeys, Marinette?” the girl picked right back up where she left of, although much less frantic.  
Marinette sharply exhaled, “God. Okay, yes Alya they are hickeys no I can’t tell you who from however I need help covering them really badly!”  
“Okay I will help you now, but you are telling me everything, and I mean everything, tonight when I come over to work on the finishing touches for our masks and my dress, okay?”  
“Ugh,” Marinette sighed, rubbing her hand along her forehead, “Okay fine if you help me I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”  
“Okay now let’s get to business. Take off the sweater, I need to see the damage.”  
Marinette gaped as Alya ripped the sweater off of her, leaving her standing in the girls bathroom in a white camisole and jeans. Her jaw dropped open as she saw the assortment of marks across Mari’s chest and throat. “Marinette this looks like a vampire went to town on your neck and left you dead.” Her hand reached out and her fingers brushed over some of the darker bruises at her throat, before she took a small makeup kit out of her back and went to work expertly covering each and every bruise with makeup. She didn’t have the right shade of concealer for Marinette’s porcelain skin, but she did have her translucent powder which was pretty darn close.  
“How are you so good at this?” Marinette muttered, her chin still towards the ceiling as Alya made some final touches.  
“Oh I’ve had plenty of practice. With Nino.” she giggled, her bronzed face turning deep red as Marinette dropped her chin, a small laugh bubbling up through her throat, “anyways, I think you’ll be fine. I wouldn’t notice unless I was looking. Put your sweater back on and get to class girly.”  
They rushed back to class, and never has a morning seemed longer as she impatiently waited until she could rush out of class and away from Adrien.  
She shot out of her seat as soon as the bell rang for lunch and walked as fast as she could out of the building only to be blind sided, jumping when he whispered in her ear.  
“Hey ladybug.” she whirled around eyes wide, her face unable to decide if it wanted to go red with blush at the memory of the night before or white with pure terror as she looked Adrien straight in the eye, her lips pressed tightly together and her jaw clamped shut.  
“God fucking dammit,” she whispered, her eyebrows knitting together in worry and her teeth drawing in her bottom lip.  
“Quite the mouth you’ve got there, huh?” he murmured, still wearing that stupid grin.  
“Adrien how did you find out?” she muttered, already knowing what had happened.  
“Shall we go talk somewhere… more private?” he leaned forward to whisper even quieter, his lips brushing against her ear and his breath stirring her hair.  
“Yeah. I think we should, kitty.”  
His eyes widened as she turned away, taking him by his hand as she led him away from the school. She pulled him behind her into a nearby alley, looking at him sadly.  
“So how much do you absolutely hate me?” she said, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall opposite.  
Adrien gaped at her for a moment, his eyebrows lowering in confusion, “W-what?” he questioned, taking a step towards her with his arms out.  
“You heard me, Adrien, how dissappointed are you? You fell in love with Ladybug, this wonderful talented brave woman and it turns out behind the mask it’s just dumb boring stuttering Marinette Dup-” Adrien quickly made his way across the alley, slamming his lips against hers and pushing her gently against the brick behind her. It didn’t take her long to relax into the kiss, softly sighing when he pulled away. She didn’t open her eyes right away, simply running her tongue over her lips and tasting his lip balm. Strawberry.  
Adrien stood, watching her leaning against the wall eyes still closed as her teeth ran over her lip once more before her lids fluttered open, “Marinette I liked you before I even suspected you were Ladybug. You remember Evillustrator? Almost two years ago? I liked you then!” He sighed, running his hands down her arms before taking her hands into his own and pulling them up around his neck, “and when I danced with you at Chloe’s party? I was head over heels. And when you kissed me at the picnic on Hero’s Day? Nearly passed out. That was all before I knew you were Ladybug. Finding out you were one and the same was just a little bonus.”  
“A-adrien…” she sighed softly, her bluebell eyes staring deeply into his forest green ones, “When did you know?”  
“Uhm hah… ha well you see uh…” he blushed heavily, taking a step back a rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably, “You remember the akuma victim that made people um. I don’t want to say horny but uh for lack of a better word…” he trailed off.  
“You little liar!” she punched his shoulder, laughing loudly, “You told me you didn’t see anything!”  
“Well I knew how important keeping your identity was to you, milady!” he muttered, looking down at his feet, “anyways now you have to tell me how you know. When did you know.”  
“Truth or Dare? And then the bruise, and then I just began to piece some things together from there.” she sighed, looking up at him.  
“Well how do you feel about that? That I’m ya know. Chat Noir,” Adrien asked lowly, a blush still spread across his cheeks as he rocked back on his heels, “are YOU dissappointed?”  
Marinette gasped, “Adrien I’ve had a crush on you since you gave me your umbrella your first day of school!” she laughed, “How could I possibly be dissappointed that he’s you? Besides, if I was, do you think last night would have happened?” her voice dropped into a low, secdutive tone as she wrapped her fingers around his white over shirt and gently pulled him towards her.  
“Mari…” he sighed, leaning in to kiss only to get her fingertips.  
“We have to go back to school after lunch and I still want to get something to eat, mon chaton. Save that for later. Maybe Chat Noir will swing by later tonight?” she winked at him as she ran her hands down his torso before hooking her fingers around his belt loop and quickly leaving a peck on his lips. She turned, leaving him standing in the alley by himself for a moment before he jogged and caught up with her.  
Marinette arrived home and immediately went to her room, picking up everything on the floor and haphazardly putting it somewhere near where it belonged. She change into a cute set of pajamas and sat at her desk twiddling her thumbs for almost twenty minutes before she realized that Adrien wasn’t going to come until later tonight. Shortly after this, she realized Alya was also going to be coming over tonight, and according to the clock she was going to be here in less than five minutes. Marinette scrambled to shove her dress into her closet and pulled out her mask and Alya’s mask as well as Alya’s finished dress. Just as she sat down at her chair once again, Alya herself burst through her door.  
“Show me your neck.” she demanded, spinning the office chair to face her and looking at the once again completely exposed hickeys. “You told me you would tell me who gave these to you tonight, now spill.”  
Marinette felt her face get warm as she played with her loose hair, pulling her lip through her teeth as she made a decision on what to say. She looked up at Alya nervously whispering, “It was Adrien,” but she only got the ‘a’ sound out before Alya started screaming and cheering, hauled Marinette out of the chair and hugged her tightly against her chest.  
“MARINETTE!” Alya continued to scream, tears forming in her eyes as she smiled so hard her face hurt, “I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU GIRL!” she burst once more into laughter, swinging Marinette around in circles as they both began to laugh.  
“Yeah uh. I think we’re dating now.” Marinette nodded, a huge smile still spread across her face as tears wetted her cheeks. Alya pulled her into another hug and rocked her back and forth for a moment before pushing her out at arms length and looking at her seriously.  
“Are you going with him to the ball?” she asked, her fingers squeezing the bluenettes shoulders tightly.  
“I mean. I don’t know I assume so,” Marinette shrugged, her hands falling to her side. Alya continued to stare at her.  
“Can I see your dress?”  
“No.”  
“But Marinette,”  
“I said no.”


	12. Chaud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there is smut! I put a warning, if you don't want to read it skip from the warning to the end of smut label.

Chat Noir landed softly on her balcony, the trap door opening before he even had a chance to knock. Marinette reached out, grabbing the tip of his belt tail and gently pulling him towards her. He willinging obliged, climbing down the ladder into her room as fast as he could. He noticed that the two mannequins were out once more, a pink one that was obviously made for Alya and a deep red one that he knew to be Marinette’s. Scraps of fabric covered almost every flat surface in the room, an intricately decorated mask carefully positioned on a table with a fan softly blowing on it, probably to dry glue.  
“Adriennnnn,” Marinette whined, taking his head and turning it to look at her, “I know you’ve been in my room before there’s nothing new,”  
He brought his hands up to her neck to play with her loose hair, gently pulling on a chunk when she giggled at him.  
“Nice to know you took my suggestion of wearing your hair down more often, princess,” he whispered in her ear.  
“It was a toss up between down and french braided,” she winked, “but my hair isn’t nearly long enough to have the… desired effect when braided so I went with down.” she shrugged, her shoulders brushing the top of his hands as he gently pulled her face closer to his. She met him in the middle, gently brushing her lips against his.  
“Plagg, claws in,” Adrien muttered, pushing the girl up into her bed as he detransformed, his lips leaving hers only long enough to crawl over top of her.  
“I do quite enjoy what you’re wearing, Marinette,” growled Adrien as he gently tugged on the hem of her red tank top, the top coming down a fraction of an inch to reveal a thin strip of black lace underneath. He looked from the top of her bra to her, her pupils blown wide and her face already heavily flushed. Adrien gently ran his fingers an inch or so under the hem, looking to her for approval and continuing when he got a desperate nod. “Tell me if you want me to stop, okay princess?”  
“I won’t want you to stop, trust me.” she whispered, her eyes flicking down to his lips as she hungrily kissed him once more.

-Smut- Skip if you don’t want to read

Adrien pulled the red tank top over her head, resting his hands on her now bare waist as he lay between her legs, which were wrapped tightly around his back. He reached over his head, pulling his shirt off and trying not to groan when Marinette ghosted her fingers over his ribcage before wrapping her arms around him as well and pulling herself even closer. He ran his hands over her chest and down her sides, earning a giggle from the sweet girl, before they came to rest by her waistband, his fingers toying with the black leggings as he felt her through them. She was wearing lace underwear, he could feel it. He gently tugged at the waistband.  
“Is this okay?” he whispered into her mouth.  
“God, yes Adrien everything is okay do what you please,” she groaned desperately wanting his hands on her again.  
He slid his hands under her leggings and softly cupped her ass, Marinette gasping softly when he squeezed, eliciting a soft chuckle from Adrien. He began working the waistband lower on her legs, slowly teasing her until she flipped him off of her and tore the leggings off herself before climbing on top of him, her legs straddling his hips. She brought her lips to his jaw, slowly kissing her way down his chest until she had to move between his legs. She gently pressed her thigh into his already swollen bulge, earning a soft moan from the boy before she slid back up his body, her hand between the two already down the front of his pants. She brought her lips to his once more, silencing his panting and groaning with her tongue and she felt herself getting warm and wet. She sat back on her knees, pulling the already undone belt from his pants and flinging it across the room before undoing the the zipper and working them down his legs. She gently kissed the inside of his thigh, just beneath where his underwear ended, before dragging herself back up him to whisper in his ear.  
“Somehow I knew you were a boxer briefs kinda guy,” she gently bit his earlobe, still palming him as she once again made her way back down. “I’m gonna need you to take these the rest of the way off, mon chaton, you’re wearing far too much clothing still considering I’m in my underwear, and you’ve got jeans on.”  
He wasted no time pulling the jeans off his legs and throwing them to the floor alongside his shirt and belt, as well as Marinette’s clothes. He watched as she settled herself between his legs again, running her finger along the waistband of his underwear before slipping her finger under it and slowly pulling it farther down his hips. He ached to be released, his lip harshly caught between his teeth, his jaw so tight it broke the skin. He looked down at the girl, her now dark blue eyes meeting his, the lust evident in them.  
She ran her tongue up his dick through his underwear, pulling a soft strings of curses from his bloodied lips as well as a low growl.  
“Marinette, fuck just do something,” Adrien groaned, his hands fisting the sheets beneath him as he watched the girl between his legs take her sweet time.  
“Mmm?” she made a questioning noise, sitting back on her knees to just look at him.  
“God what the fuck, princess I swear just. Do. Something. I’m begging you,” Adrien squirmed, desperate for her touch.  
She suddenly reached out, pulling his underwear down and hungrily eyeing his now completely revealed cock. She wrapped her hand around the base, squeezing gently as she bent over and gently kissed the head. She pulled her hand from the base to the tip, running her thumbs softly over his slit and eyeing him as his back arched and goosebumps spread across his arms.  
“Mmm.” she hummed again, sitting back once again, “Why don’t you come help me with this.” she murmured, climbing out of her bed and walking across the room to a more open area. Adrien quickly followed, watching her as she swiped her hair off her back, revealing the clasp of her bra. He pressed himself into her back, gently running his hands up the sides of her stomach and breasts before bringing them back around to her back, smoothly unclipping the bra and sliding her arms from it before flinging it onto the ever growing pile of discarded clothing. His hands went back to her chest, his mouth going straight to a bruise that was on her neck from the night before.  
She wrapped her arms up around behind her, leaning into his touch and gently pulling on the hair at the back of his neck before turning herself around to properly attach her lips to his. She felt herself being pushed back into the wall, his hands gripping her hips as he darkened several bruises on her neck. She could feel his cock pressing into her stomach, and everytime she moved Adrien moaned with pleasure. She reached out, blindly feeling across the top of her desk as she searched for the condom she had left there earlier, grinning against his lips when she found it. She tore it open behind his head, grinning at him when he pulled away, eyes wide. She brought her arms down in front of her, sliding it over his cock and biting her lip and the low groan it brought from his lips. She looked back up at him, her heart racing with both lust and nerves.  
He softly brought his hands to her hips, pushing her against the wall much softer this time. He played with the waistband of her panties, softly kissing her face, her neck, her shoulders, everywhere he could reach. He began to crouch, leaving new bruised down her chest and on her stomach, until his mouth reached the black lace. He gently grabbed it with his teeth, his eyes never breaking contact with hers as he began to pull the underwear away. He let them fall around her ankles, suddenly lifting her up and pressing her against the wall to kiss her once again, her legs wrapping around his waist like instinct. They both exhaled when she felt her opening gently rub against his member, their wide eyes meeting as Marinette slowly drew her bottom lip through her teeth. She leaned forward, softly kissing Adrien before pulling away and running her hands through his hair.  
“I’m ready, Adrien. I want this. I trust you.” she whispered, inhaling sharply at the pain when he began to enter her.  
“Are you okay, princess?” he held her head against his shoulder, his hands taking most of her weight at this point.  
She exhaled slowly before nodding, “Yes it just hurts a little. Just go slow okay,” she groaned a little as he slowly lowered her down onto him, filling her completely and making it hard for her to breath properly. Her nails dug into his shoulders, no doubt leaving angry red scratches across his back, but he didn’t care. He tightly hugged Marinette to him as he lifted her slowly once more, watching her to see if it was okay. When he noticed the pinched expression of pain leave her face he turned around, laying her down on the sofa nearby, climbing onto it behind her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders.  
“You ready?” he whispered to her, smiling at her when she turned around to kiss him, letting one leg fall on either side of his hips when she crawled into his lap. She reached a hand between the two of them, slowly letting herself onto him as she held her lip between her teeth.  
He groaned, feeling her warmth envelope him and the tightness creating a sensation he had never experienced before. Adrien was absolutely blissful, his eyes never leaving Marinette’s body. They landed on her eyes, which were closed, then they travelled down her face to her lips, her bottom one still tightly held between her teeth, and down her bruised neck taking in her gorgeous body and flushed chest, all of it shining with sweet smelling sweat. He took one of the hands that was resting on her hips off, grabbing a fistful of hair from the nape of her neck and pulling her closer to him, their lips slamming against each others with a hungry passion. He could feel himself getting closer, Marinette’s small soft moans not helping his cause to last.  
“A-adrien I’m close,” she murmured, her lips brushing against his as she inhaled deeply before reconnecting them. He felt her legs begin to shake, a loud moan slipping from her lips causing her eyes to widen and her hand to slap over her mouth as she froze, listening for footsteps signalling that a parent was on their way. Adrien simply grinned up at her, his still heightened hearing telling him they were fine, her parents were watching an action movie and wouldn’t be able to hear much over the blaring television. He nodded at her, and she once again began to move. She kept her hand over her mouth to prevent more than a soft muffled groan from escaping, and one surprisingly loud groan later she came, tightening around him and causing him to come shortly after. They both lay there, panting and sweating before Marinette stood, pulling Adrien with her to bring them to her bed.  
“Wh-” Adrien was silenced by her lips, no longer harsh and hungry but softly brushing against his, sweet and intimate.  
“Come cuddle with me minou, I’m sleepy,” she mumbled into his mouth while pulling him up with her into bed.

-End of Smut-

The two exhausted teens lay in bed, their bodies spent and their naked limbs tangled under the sheets as they fell into a comfortable slumber, only to be rudely awoken my Marinette’s alarm clock at 7 the next morning. They both jolted up, frantically staring at each other as they realized what had happened.  
“Adrien you need to get out of my house, my parents can’t know you were here.”  
“I’ll meet you at your front door at 8, milady?” he leaned in, softly kissing her forehead before climbing from her bed and throwing his clothes from the day before on.  
“See you then, mon chaton.” she blew him a kiss as she watched him transform and climb from her balcony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not like. good at writing smut so I tried, but whatever my bad *shrug*


	13. Pris

Adrien flung himself through his bedroom window, detransforming as he jogged across his bedroom. He grabbed a black tee-shirt and red over shirt, throwing them on over his jeans and sneakers he was wearing from the day before. He brushed his teeth with one hand as he carefully styled his hair in the normal way with the other, deciding after he spit that he wanted it a little messier today. For Chat Noir’s sake. He transformed once more and leaped out his window, sliding into the alley behind the bakery and nonchalantly whistling as he headed to the front of the shop, looking down at his watch to check the time. He didn’t have to wait there long, as Marinette came rushing out into the brisk fall morning wearing a dark green skater skirt and a pastel yellow sweater, black socks reaching just beneath the skirt and a pair of black flats tying the look together.  
“Good morning, Marinette, I haven’t seen you in a while. So nice that we could make this work.” Adrien teased, leaning forward slightly, “You look very cute today. I think that skirt would look nicer on my bedroom floor, though.” he added, keeping his face completely neutral as he knew her parents were just inside.  
Marinette turned bright red before flicking his nose, “You’re gonna have to keep the bedroom talk down for the day, kitty. Only a few people know, and we don’t wanna seem too sudden for their liking.” she said, the blush in her cheeks fading down to a soft pink. The bruises on her neck didn’t seem to be as painstakingly covered as they were the day before; the only guard between them and the world was the collar of her sweater. She turned away, adjusting her backpack on her back and beginning to walk away, only to wink at the boy over her shoulder.  
He blushed, quickly jogging to catch back up with her as she crossed the street to the school on the other side. He wrinkled up is nose as he turned to look at her, “How do you deal with living so close to school? Like it must be great for lunch but you always have to see that monstrosity whenever you look outside.”  
“I mean I’ve always lived here so I guess I just never really know otherwise. And yes it is great for lunch, I only have to walk like two minutes and bam I’ve got fresh baked pastries and all that for lunch.” she gestured, over her shoulders, stumbling over her feet as she did causing her to fall.  
Adrien wrapped his arms around her and smoothly bent to kiss her as if he was dipping her in the middle of the dance. He sighed softly as their lips connected and her arms came up behind his neck to play with his hair. He pulled her back to her feet without his lips leaving hers, groaning when she pulled away and replaced her soft lips with the tips of her fingers.  
“Adrien I thought I told you not at school yet, we don’t know how peo-” the smiling girl was cut off by a shrill screech.  
“Adrikins I’ll save you,” squealed Chloe as she practically sprinted towards them, “I’ll get that mongrel away from you! How dare she force herself upon you like that!”  
Adrien pulled Marinette out of the way of Chloe’s path of destruction, resulting in the blonde barely catching herself from her undignified leap at Marinette’s throat, “If anything I forced myself upon her, but I think if you ask her she was fine with it,” Adrien joked, moving his hand into hers as he turned away from Chloe, “Thanks for your concern though, Chlo,” he waved over his shoulder at the blonde, who was staring slack jawed. Sabrina soon appeared at her side, forcefully pulling the shocked girl from her spot were she seemed to be rooted.  
Marinette followed Adrien up the steps, giggling softly as she thought about the expression on Chloe’s face. She turned her eyes up and saw Alya leaning against the wall, one eyebrow raised as she looked at the bluenette with a smirk on her face. One look revealed that Nino was also present, a knowing look also visible in his grin and lowered chin.  
“Hey Alya, Nino.” Mari raised her unoccupied hand in their direction as she approached.  
“Honestly I thought you might’ve been pulling my hair when you told me Adrien gave you those,” Alya leaned forward, whispering in Marinette’s ear as she poked her throat softly. A soft chuckle fell through her lips when she saw the annoyance in the smaller girls slightly contorted face.  
“I didn’t actually see them until today so I thought she was kidding,” Nino added on, his arm lazily draping over Alya’s shoulders. The redhead looked up at him, her grin replaced with a softer smile.  
“Well the truth comes out,” Adrien joked, softly pressing his lips against Mari’s head. Everyone jumped when the warning bell rang, signaling the small group had five minutes to get to class. They all bustled in seperate directions, Marinette releasing Adrien’s hand for the first time since she had took it while they crossed the street. She sat through a World History class next to Alix, sighing in relief when the bell rand signaling that they were to go to gym or study hall, whichever they had that day.  
Nino and Alya both happened to have study hall, and they met by the stairs before walking together to the library. They were walking passed one of the many closed doors to the labs on the bottom floor, the windows shadowed for lack of classes in them that day, when they heard a loud thud followed by a gasp. The duo paused, looking at each other and then back at the door with mild horror on their faces.   
A female voice moaned loudly for a second before being silenced suddenly, probably by another person’s hand. “F-fuck, A-ad-drien,”the now know voice cried, much quieter than the moan but still audible to the two people who had their ears pressed against the door.  
Nino looked at Alya, eyes wide and mouth open with pure horror.  
Alya looked back at him, her face red as she struggled to hold back laughter, “Holy shit,” she mouthed at him, her hand covering her mouth as soon as the words were out.  
“I’m leaving.” Nino whispered, his expression deadpan as he stood and turned to walk the rest of the way to the library without his girlfriend.  
Alya stood, quickly walking to catch up to her boyfriend, “Wait wait wait,” she hissed, grabbing his arm and pulling him around the nearest corner, peeking her head back around to watch the door, “I’m waiting until they come out so I can tease them about how they look like they just boned and how obvious it is.” she continued, thinking they would at least try to look normal upon exiting the classroom.  
After standing there for almost ten minutes, she was provens dreadfully wrong. The door swung open and Alya almost fainted when the couple came out, Marinette not even having finished tucking her sweater back in before Adrien snuck his hand out and grabbed her butt, leaning over and kissing her jawline. She stumbled back, as he shoved her against the railing to the second floor hallway and ran his hands up under her sweater.  
Alya left her hiding spot and walked over to the oblivious couple, watching them makeout agressively from mere feet away for almost a minute before she cleared her throat loudly.  
The two teenagers bounced apart faster than Alya could process; they were on opposite sides of the hallway before she could even process what was happening.  
Marinette quickly straightened the collar of her sweater, a fair amount of new bruises across her throat that she was unable to hide, and looked up at Alya with embarrassment as she tucked the bottom hem into her skirt and pulled her socks back up to her thighs from where they had slid down.  
“You two are like jack rabbits,” the redhead teased as she playfully slapped Mari’s hand, turning away to head back to Nino. The redhanded couple locked eyes from across the hallway, blushes spreading across their cheeks as they began to giggle. Marinette held her hand out towards the tall blond, grinning and taking off with him dragging behind her when he finally took it. They arrived at gym almost 15 minutes later, both already sweaty and red faced as though they had just run a mile. Alya snickered at them from her view of the court that she got from the library.


	14. Les Accidents

Ladybug swung into Adrien’s room for the third time that week, detransforming as soon as her feet touched the ground. She jumped into Adrien’s arms, giggling like a child as she wrapped her legs around his waist.  
“Adrien, it’s Thursday,” she rested her chin on his head as he carried her over to the couch.  
“Yes, and?” he queried, his breath brushing against her collar bones and making her giggle again.  
“The dance is Saturday night and you still haven’t asked me silly kitty.”  
“I just assumed we were going together,” he kissed her palms as he sat down with her still wrapped around him, “I didn’t know you were waiting for a big ask,” he pulled her forward, softly brushing his lips against her smiling ones.  
She jokingly pouted, pulling away from him so she could look him in the eye, that would be she could if he would look up at her instead of her chest. “Adrien my eyes are up here,” she grinned, hooking her fingers under his chin and pulling his head up.  
“I’m sorry, princess, but when you wear stuff like this,” he gestured to her body, a tight fitting tank top and spandex shorts clinging to her and leaving little to the imagination, “You have to let me look at you for a little.” he softly traced the lace at the top of the camisole, leaning forward to nip at her throat. She let him for a few minutes, enjoying the sensation before she softly pushed him away to look into his eyes.  
“So we are going to the dance together?” she whispered, a gleeful smile spread across her face.  
“Of course, Mari. What color tie should I wear?” he lifted her up, only to take her hand and lead her across the bedroom, opening what looked like a closet only to reveal a wall of ties and suits that matched.  
“Well you know what color my dress is, so you should probably wear a dark red tie and socks and a black suit, but maybe a brighter red shirt underneath? Or you could wear Chat Noir colors and we’d be themed, if not a little obvious.” Marinette wrapped her arms around him from behind and standing on her tippy toes, peeked over his shoulder at the arrangement of ties in front of her.  
“I’ve seen your dress, what’s your mask look like?” he turned around, pulling her into his chest and resting his chin on her head.  
“Oh it’s the same dark red as the satin sash things with black lace flowers scattered, the same lace as the underskirt and florals on my dress. It’s very inspired by Ladybug,” she grinned, looking up at him and pressing her lips against his when he looked down at her.  
“Then I’m basically required to go inspired by Chat Noir,” he grinned, “despite the obviousness. You really do look the exact same in and out of mask, it’s a wonder that I didn’t find out about you before I did.”  
“Yeah, I noticed my suit doesn’t do shit to protect my identity.” Marinette pulled a way, an expression of worry ghosting over her features as she slowly began pacing back and forth in front of him, “At least for yours your hairstyle and eye color change so you’re not so obvious, but when you were Ladybug when we switched you looked exactly like, well, you.” she had stopped at this point, facing him with her hands on her hips. “I got the short end of the stick, uniform wise.”  
“Quit pouting, milady, if people were going to find out about you identity they would have done it over the last three years,” he rested his hands on her shoulders and held her at arms length, rubbing small circles on her arms with his thumbs.  
She met his eyes, a small grin lighting her face when she got an idea, “Put on your Chat Noir-est costume and then transform and follow me to my house okay? I’ll help- wait do you have a mask?”  
“Uh… no I don’t have a mask.” he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, watching the small girl in front of him immediately leap into thought.  
“Okay we can deal with that when we get to my place. You get ready with your suit or whatever and I’ll judge you.” she flopped on his couch, her eyes following his every move as he picked out a simple solid black suit coat and pants, followed by a lime green under shirt and a black tie. He slipped off his tee-shirt, blushing when he watched her eyes flicker down his body before he turned around to slip on the green button up.  
` Marinette stood, walking up behind him and hugging him before he could button it all the way up. She very obviously ran her hands up his chest before sighing dramatically, “You’re so muscley Adrien,” she giggled, pulling away so he could finish buttoning up the shirt. She helped him button his cuffs and straightened the jacket over the shirt. He really suited a suit (great, now she’s punning), his shoulders filling the suit almost too much, but Marinette enjoyed the look. She watched his long fingers nimbly tie the tie and followed them down when he tucked it into the front of his jacket. He pulled on a pair of lime green socks and dress shoes, grinning at her as he tucked a lime green pocket square into his breast pocket.  
“Shall we get going, milady?” he bowed, his green eyes never leaving hers as she placed her hand into his.  
Marinette blushed heavily as his lips lightly brushed her knuckles, “Tikki, spots on,” she giggled before leaping out of his window. She saw a flash of green emit from his room before Chat Noir’s baton soon came flying out of his window. They raced back to Marinette’s house, carefully hiding away from street view before detransforming and climbing down her ladder. Marinette immediately set to work, taking a mask form and fitting it with a large scrap of black satin she had leftover from an earlier project and grabbing a large bin of glitters and such she sifted through until she had quite the pile of green gemstones. She began gluing the tiny stones into the shape of small green pawprints that were scattered across the bottom and top corners of his mask. She only put a few dark green ones, not wanting to over do the decoration, before she set it gently on her desk before turning back towards Adrien. He had already detransformed and was standing just behind her, watching her work over her shoulder.  
“How do you just. Do that?” he mumbled, gesturing towards the drying mask.  
“What do you mean?”  
“You can just, design things and you didn’t even draw that you just did that from the top of your head!”  
“I have been thinking about it since you brought it up while we were at your house, Adrien. It’s absolutely planned out and absolutely not off the top of my head.” she wrapped her fingers around his tie and gently pulled him towards her. “You look hot in this suit, by the way.” she lowly whispered before standing and heading to the mannequin that was wearing her dress.  
“Come here, come stand by it. I want to see how the colors look together.” she pulled Adrien over and stood him next to the mannequin, taking a step back and resting her thumb on her lips. “I think they’ll do,” she finally concluded before stepping forward and pulling the mannequin back into the closet.  
“Wait I don’t get to see it on you?” Adrien complained, gently grabbing at the fabric while trying to stop her from taking the dress away.  
“Alya hasn’t even seen the dress, she’s only seen the mask and the materials. And no one else has even heard about it. So you should feel honored you got as much as you did, chaton.” she playfully scolded him, laughing at his furrowed brows and open mouth.  
“What a tease,” he mumbled under his breath as he crossed his arms over his chest.  
“A tease? What was I teasing you with?” Marinette chuckled, watching his face twist into mild shock before both of their heads snapped towards the window. A ear drum shattering boom had just sounded from across town.  
The duo met each others eyes, and the flash from both of them transforming could be seen from the road outside. Good thing almost everyone on the road was more concerned with the massive explosions than the bright light above them. Almost everyone.


	15. L'amant de mon Cousin

The two heroes threw themselves across the city towards the new akuma.  
“I was just thinking, milady, th-”  
“That’s always dangerous,” Ladybug cut him off, turning to look at her partner as she swung.  
Chat Noir grinned as he began again, “I was thinking earlier today that it had been awhile since our last akuma attack. We used to get them almost daily but it’s been quite a few since we got one, almost a week!”  
“It’s almost like Hawkmoth was on vacation. Or planning something.”  
The duo landed at the feet… tentacles of the akuma, which seemed to be a real life manifestation of the librarian monster from Monster’s University.  
“Lemme guess, ‘shh’?” teased Chat, slamming the end of his baton against the ground with a metallic clang that brought the akuma’s attention to them.  
“SHHHH!” the akuma hissed, quite predictably, causing Chat to turn towards his partner with a satisfied grin.   
Ladybug rolled her eyes, swinging her yoyo up to the top of a building to get closer to the height of the towering akuma. The angry beast had begun throwing things, Ladybug barely dodging a maroon minivan before it hit the roof behind her bursting into flame. “Okay that’s enough of that,” her eyes were wide with shock at her near death experience, “Chat, I think it’s time we wrap this up?” she made a circular gesture with her pointer finger as she leaped out of the way of a hot dog cart, hissing when a small splash of steaming water dropped onto her head.  
“Hey slime ball,” Chat called from the other side of the monster, initiating the ever functional one two take out, “you realise you’re making the most noise here right?”  
Marinette scanned the beast, groaning when she found the akumatised object. Not only was the hairclip higher off the ground than the literal Eiffel Tower due to the height of the akuma, it was also tangled in the beast’s knatted locks. Hawkmoth was getting smarter. She glanced over to see Chat keeping the monster busy and quietly cast her lucky charm. A pair of hair scissors dropped into her hands.  
“Well, that’s pretty straightforward,” she mumbled as she flung herself to the roof of the nearest building and then onto the victims head. The beast noticed her immediately, but could not act fast enough to throw her off before Ladybug snipped the comb out of her hair and tossed it into Chat Noir’s already called upon cataclysm. It crumbled to dust and she swung her yoyo down to the ground to catch the akuma before it could flutter away. The two fist bumped and split up to detransform, reconvening at Marinette’s bakery as their civilian selves. Neither of them noticed the tall blond as he tracked their positions as they separated, when Chat Noir transformed from superhero to supermodel, or when they met each other at the same bakery the duo had originally transformed in. His pale blue eyes flickered to the deeper blue ones of his accomplice, the rest of her face hidden behind the menu of the restaurant she was ‘eating’ at. They had everything they needed. He smiled gently at her, relief written across his face as he turned away and slung his jacket over his shoulder. They would talk later once they got back to his uncle’s mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter's really short.
> 
> I got the plot rebooted though, I've got a ton of ideas now. The title of the book may come into play soon ;)


	16. En Maladie et en Santé

Felix arrived at the Agreste mansion a few minutes before Bridgette did, the petite bluenette rushing around the corner and straight into his chest when she finally arrived.  
“Oh,” she gasped, her face turning a flattering shade of pink, “Sorry, Fe.”  
Felix smiled down at her, a soft chuckle escaping from his lips. It had taken the smaller girl years to get his attention, but now that she had it, he was struggling to focus on anything else but those pretty bluebell eyes framed by her shiny dark locks.  
“It’s alright, mon amour, pas de probleme,” he grinned as he gently ran his thumb down her cheek, “we should probably go tell Agreste what we found out so we can finally get out of this mess,”  
“Yeah. I can’t wait until we can finally go home,” her sad smile crushing his heart. He wanted to keep her safe.  
“Felix. Mlle. Agreste-Cheng. Monsieur Agreste wishes to speak with you.” Nathalie called from where she stood by the front gate, causing the two 20-somethings to jump and snap their heads in her direction.  
Bridgette quietly stepped a little in front of Felix, reaching her arm around him as she followed the assistant into the building. She could feel him right at her back, his arm protectively wrapped around her waist as they entered.  
The doors slammed shut behind them, only the meager amount of light from the cloudy sky lighting the grand staircase. Nathalie’s heels could be heard clacking on the marble flooring as she exited.  
“So, Felix. I assume the reason you’re here is because you have the information I requested?” an icy voice projected from above them.  
The duo glanced up and their eyes fell upon Gabriel Agreste in all his glory.  
“Uncle, I do but I plead with you, they’re just children and I don’t think you’ll wan-”  
“I don’t care if they’re just children, if I have to kill them to get what I want I will. I need to do what’s best for Adrien and I.” he interrupted Felix.  
“And what would that be, M. Agreste?” Bridgette stepped forward, crossing her arms over her chest as she challenged the man.  
“Getting his mother back.”  
“I don’t think you fully understand. You’re willing to put Adrien in danger with each akuma just on the slight chance that you’ll not only win the fight and get the miraculous, but also be able to do what you plan with them? You’ve hurt his friends, you’ve attacked his home. What if one of these times it goes to far and he gets hurt in the process?” Felix cut into the conversation.  
“I’ve made sure to tell my akumas never to touch Adrien. He is always safe.”  
“Uncle, I really do wish you would reconsider-”  
“Tell me who they are, Felix.”  
“I don’t think-”  
“I don’t care what you think. I want my wife back, and this is the only way to do that. Tell. Me. Their. Names.”  
Felix sighed in defeat and looked at the ground for a moment before looking back up at the monster in front of him.  
“Ladybug,” he began softly, “is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Bridgette’s little cousin. The 17 year old girl who’s won several of your design competitions.”  
There was a subtle change in the man’s face, a split second of uncontrolled shock before he regained his composure, the only thing giving away the weakness being the paling of his face.  
“A Chat Noir? The one you’re willing to kill to get what you want?” Felix stared daggers into the man, “Is none other than Adrien Agreste, the boy you’ve been neglecting his whole life under the pretense of protecting him. You were willing to kill your own son. To get your wife back. You disgust me.”  
Gabriel was silent as the two young adults turned to leave, finally ready to move on with their lives and pretend they didn’t just sell out their family.  
The two froze as they heard a soft whisper and what seemed like the flapping of wings behind them, chills running down their spines as they heard Hawkmoth conclude the meeting. 

“I still am.”

The door to his lair slammed behind him, echoing through the open room.


	17. Dîner Avec la Famille

Adrien walked down the street to the small cafe on the corner, Marinette’s hand nestled securely in his own as they took a seat. He felt her grip on his hand increase painfully, and when he followed her eyes he saw someone who could’ve been her sister packing up from the same cafe and scurrying away down the street.  
“Mari who was that?”  
She inhaled shakily, “That was Bridgette, she’s my oldest…” she paused counting on her fingers, “fourth cousin?”  
“Why do you seem to be so nervous about that?”  
“She was sent to a mental hospital nine years ago when she was 18 because she was talking about how the fairies were going to save the world from the darkness. I haven’t seen her since I last visited her, and even then she seemed a little cuckoo.” she sighed, crossing her arms across her chest, “I just wonder how she’s doing. It was a shock, is all. I miss her. She was really nice to me.”  
“Oh. Do you want to go catch up for awhile?”  
Marinette vigorously shook her head, “Absolutely not, I don’t know why she’s here but I want to talk to my mom before I go catching up with someone who could, for all I know, have escaped from the mental health hospital and be psychotic,” she stood and put her hands on her hips, “Although, last time I saw her she didn’t seem dangerous, just a little weird and cryptic.”  
“Well do you wanna follow her?”  
“I think we should enjoy this lunch first and plan how you’re going to shock me at school with a big romantic ask” she grinned, sitting back down and winking flirtatiously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So these last few chapters are pretty short because I'm trying to clarify some stuff and there would be awkward time skips in the middle of the chapter so I decided to just cut them off and post a lot more frequently given the length.


	18. Danse Avec Moi

Marinette waltzed through the door of the school, her black skirt fluttering behind her as she bounced in excitement. She was expecting some sort of grand gesture today, so she made sure to dress extra cute, small winged eyeliner accentuating the upturned nature of her eyes and a soft rosy lipstick matched her cold shoulder crop top. She bounced up the stairs to the second floor and cheerily greeted Alya.  
“What’s got you so cheerful? I know it’s Friday but, you seem the most awake you’ve been in possibly months.”  
She grinned and rocked back onto the heels of her shoes before popping her lips. “I’m expecting something big to happen today so one, I wanted to look cute, and two, be ready to record because I want this on video,” she giggled.  
Alya pulled out her phone and grinned as she bumped shoulders with the smaller girl next to her.

oOo

Adrien wrung his hands together as he leaned against the wall, once more looking over his poster. He adjusted the cat ear headband on his head and looks at Nino for support.  
“You’re stupid,” Nino stated rather bluntly, “but she’ll love it, because it’s you doing it and I don’t think she could be disappointed in anything you do.”  
Adrien could feel a blush crawling up his neck and into his face; he nervously adjusted his shirt collar before running his hand through his messy hair and pushing himself away from the wall. “Okay, let’s do this.”

oOo

Marinette walked into class mere moments before the bell rang; despite the fact that she had made it to school early doesn’t mean she was going to go sit in class by herself waiting for it to start. She met Adrien’s eyes as she walked to her seat, blushing when he winked at her. Something was coming. She anxiously fiddled through the entire class, jumping everytime Adrien fidgeted or shifted in his seat, only to be mildly disappointed when nothing happened during her first class. Or the second one. By the end of her third hour she was feeling a little let down, and her peppy step was much less enthusiastic as she headed down the stairs to lunch. She sat down at her lunch table, jumping when Adrien slid in right next to her. She glanced up to see a shit eating grin across his face, which was framed by his Chat Hair™, a pair of velvety cat ears settled on his head with a headband.   
“Well hello there purr-incess,” he purred, settling his arm on her shoulder and booping her nose with his finger.  
Marinette felt a blush climbing her neck and reddening her face as she struggled to keep a straight face, “Hello, chaton”  
“I recall you discussing a dance earlier this week? You were sewing a dress for it, I believe?”  
“Yes, that is a conversation I remember having,” she giggled, noticing Alya recording out of the corner of her eye.   
“If only you had a special someone to share that gorgeous gown with,” he smirked before standing a pulling a poster out from behind his back. He unrolled it, revealing black paper with bright green writing reading: “You’d have to be kitten me if you think we wouldn’t be purrty at the dance”

Marinette struggled to hold in the groan, placing her palm on her forehead as she chuckled. She glanced back up at the sign, noticing several ladybugs flitting around the corners, and when she nodded and he folded his arms around her, she felt him slide a headband onto her head.

It was ladybug antenna. She grinned and stood on her tip toes to press a quick, chaste kiss to his lips before bouncing away across the courtyard to watch Alya’s video. She wanted to relive the moment again and again if Alya would let her. Maybe she’d have her send it to her.


End file.
